"Sharpie Manual" by Jesse Feinberg
Suggested Retail USD$20.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 5 Out of 10

Jesse Feinberg's "Sharpie Manual" is a collection of thoughts on magic with Sharpies that, unfortunately, come across as more average than not.

That's not to say Feinberg didn't give this his best effort. Honestly, he did. The routines in this booklet cover the bases when it comes to magical effect: you've got Sharpies shrinking, growing, changing color, multiplying, vanishing... I don't think Sharpies have ever been worked so hard. But too much of this is just too run-of-the-mill to create any excitement and, more often than not, come across more as thought-pieces than fleshed out routines..

The lead effect, "Let Go", uses, well, something requiring long sleeves, to vanish a Sharpie. "Bendable" has a large Sharpie magically bending in half and then straightening itself, an admittedly neat effect if the instructions helped out with a crucial point or two. "Quick Change" has a red mini Sharpie pushed through the fist and changing to black... leaving you dirty in the process and pointing the spectator to "that special something". Feinberg finishes things with "Remove", his idea for a "Re-Capped" routine which uses that long-sleeve thingy again to make a cap vanish and re-appear on the Sharpie again; in the end it's too much gimmickry for too little effect.

That's not to say this booklet is a total waste of time, though. Two routines really stood out to me: "Pen and Ink" is one of the neater ideas, with a red Sharpie writing in black ink changing to a black Sharpie writing in red ink. The gaff has some problems but it's a good idea worth playing with for a bit. "Multiplying Minis" is Feinberg's handling of the old "Multiplying Cigarette" routine done with mini Sharpies and is actually quite a slick idea. Both of these routines are slick pieces and moved me to think about other things I could do with Feinberg's ideas.

So where does that put me? For $20, I got three mini Sharpies to play with and two good ideas to think about and, more than likely, end up doing. That makes it money well spent.

But that's me. Most experienced types will be yawning over much of the material here or find things too problematic to pursue. Less experienced folks will be scratching their heads at some of the handling descriptions or lack thereof. Neither one of those reactions really makes this booklet particularly valuable.

Still, there's a chance you might end up in the same place I was with it: looking at a routine or two and thinking, "Neat idea, but what if..?" If you fall into that category, then "The Sharpie Manual" will be worth every penny.

"Sharpie Manual" by Jesse Feinberg
In a Blink: 5 Out of 10

Material: 5
As is usual with a booklet like this, there are some hits and misses, but there are way too many misses -- things either completely common or too impractical -- to make this more than an average collection.

Quality: 5
Feinberg's writing is adequate, but sometimes difficult to follow and lacking in detail.

Illustrations: 7
There are a number of illustrations, color photos mostly, some of which are a bit too small to serve the purpose but overall make some of the instructions clearer.

Presentation: 5
Feinberg loves visuals and that's what his presentations are typically about. Here, only a few of the routines live up to his thinking. That doesn't necessarily make them bad, but it doesn't make them great, either; color this one average.

Shane