Review of Urban Illusions by JC Sum

When I recently reviewed JC Sum’s excellent "Behind the Illusions" DVD, (click here to read my review), I really wanted to have his accompanying 120-page, soft cover book, “Urban Illusions,” in hand to refer to drawings and other background information. I finally got to evaluate “Urban Illusions” and found it to be a first rate and informative book about building illusions. The book goes hand in hand with the “Behind the Illusions” DVD.

In “Urban Illusions,” you won’t find re-heated illusion ideas. Sum has taken classic illusions and applied his ingenuity and creativity to effectively make them his own. The book explains ten illusions that can play strong to modern audiences. These are not concepts, but explanations for illusions that Sum has built and uses, and he discusses materials, workmanship, design and more. To make the best use of this book, you’ll need significant workshop skills to cut, join and finish a variety of materials. Although, at times, Sum recommends that you farm the work out to an expert who can build to your specifications.

Indeed, the comprehensive 110-page book is a supplement to the “Behind the Illusions” DVD and vice versa. I recommend that those who want to pursue illusions purchase both. On the one hand, the book provides the information that you need to examine diagrams and thoroughly understand the workings of each illusion. Meanwhile, the DVD shows the illusion in action and offers the fine points of performing it. Note that not all illusions are covered in both the DVD and book. Also, this edition of Urban Illusions does not include "The Impossible Teleportation" illusion that was previously taught in an earlier version of the book.

("Behind the Illusions" does not teach how to design and build the large scale illusions, but offers discussions about the props. For each illusion, you get to view a performance by Sum and Magic Babe Ning, many in front of live audiences, which is followed by a discussion about various aspects of the illusion and how to perform it.)

I think that there are lots of illusions here that will appeal to a wide variety of magicians, from those who are interested in augmenting their stand up shows with a few illusions, to those with full illusion shows who want to add some new material.

Seven by Half V.2.0 offers a multiple blade penetration of an assistant with a culmination of a cutting in half - somewhat in the vein of a traditional “cube zag.” There are a couple of large-scale effects with industrial fans. “Revo-llusion” offers a production of a person with a fan while “Wind Passage” offers a penetration effect where the magician walks through the blades of a moving fan.

There are metamorphosis style effects (Sum performs these with his magic partner, Magic Babe Ning) that include Crystal Metamorphosis and Fortress. For stand-up performers who want to produce a corporate CEO or president at a company event, Sum shows how to build his Vip Trunk. In 15 minutes, with this illusion, you can train a non-magician to seemingly come out of nowhere.

There’s a cool vanish based on a well known concept called Dekolta's Dilemma (the type of vanish, a famous one, is in the name). I thought that Slicing Through offered an interesting penetration style effect where a performer walks through a wall of broken glass bottles. The method is different and quite intriguing. To audiences, it probably appears similar to Andrew Mayne’s Razorwire illusion, but with a far different method.

In all, I enjoy the performance style of JC Sum and Magic Babe Ning (JC Sum and 'Magic Babe' Ning are well known illusionists who are based in Singapore and are known for their flashy style). I admire and appreciate Sum’s imagination and design savvy. For those who are looking to get into illusions, I recommend "Urban Illusions."