Can magicians and superheroes work together?
By Mark Henderson
I have recently been looking to develop my performing style, into something more unique than "just another standard magician." Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be famous and have people accost me in the street, but I would like to stand out from the crowd and have my own niche. Understanding your character, and having a unique style is absolutely necessary if you wish to rise to the top of your industry. There are thousands of corporate and wedding magicians that all have a similar performing style. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful following the crowd. However, 95% of magicians that tour the world and earn huge sums of money are unique and have spent countless hours crafting their own character.
Superhero magicians
Up to this point I have mostly performed card magic, but that sets me on a level playing field with every other card magician around. I want to go beyond that, so that is exactly what I am doing.
Anyone who knows me, will know how much I love comic books, and after having a very short think, I realised that I know so much magic that resembles the superpowers I read about daily.
My favourite character, without hesitation, is Wolverine. He has the ability to heal instantly from any wound and this got me thinking, “how can I present my magic to tie in with this theme?”
I could talk about Wolverine’s ability to heal then proceed to push a needle through my arm and remove it without being harmed, or I could perform a torn and restored card trick using Wolverine in my patter. To really boost the trick, the torn and restored magic trick could be performed with a photograph of Wolverine instead.
Within the realm of comic books there is scope to perform amazing feats of magic using the relevant story lines. For example, I could freeze the air with my breath into a solid lump of ice like Superman, levitate a coin or bend metal like Magneto, or even ignite a match magically in reference to The Human Torch.
What are your interests and strengths?
These are a few of the ideas I have considered that suit my performance style and personality, hopefully they will inspire you to begin thinking about your own likes and strengths, and adapt your magical performance to suit you as an individual. With a little bit of tweaking and some careful consideration, you can really tailor your patter and performances to reflect exactly who you are.
