Blackstone Master Magician Comics #2

Blackstone, the world's master magician, arrives in the sleepy Future City to perform a show that will launch a civic bond drive—but the mysterious Frawley's Castle looming above town harbors sinister secrets. When Blackstone is ambushed and trapped inside a welded boiler by mysterious criminals, he must use his cunning and his famous illusions to escape and uncover the scheme unfolding within the castle walls. With his assistant Rhoda missing and danger closing in, Blackstone faces his most perilous performance yet.

Blackstone demonstrates a quartet of magic tricks in this instructional showcase: the famous vanishing card hidden beneath a handkerchief, a banana that mysteriously slices itself inside its own peel, a coin that disappears when concealed in cloth, and a clever glass-repositioning puzzle. Each illusion is broken down step-by-step, revealing the simple but clever mechanics behind the deception so readers can master these tricks themselves.

Blackstone, the world's greatest living magician, travels to a desert city on the Sahara's border with his companion Rhoda, where he's enlisted to help protect Emir El Remi's palace from troublemaking dervishes—a task that begins when he must prove his magical prowess against El Devi, the veiled dervish, and wins favor with Sheik El Hesik. Now, accompanying the Sheik's caravan across the desert toward the Emir's palace, Blackstone dazzles them with his famous dancing handkerchief and other illusions, all while navigating the dervishes' schemes to reach their destination.