Toony Angel by Michael Maxwell

The most successful effect of this kind was [la-76456 Dan Harlan's] CardToon where a deck of cards doubled as a flip book. Riffling through the cards one would see a cartoon magician drawn on the backs find and reveal a chosen card. This effect was a huge success, potentially it was the most successful magic trick of all times (my guess, I don't really know).

Toony Angel builds on the basic idea to use a deck of cards as a flip book, but rather than animate a cartoon character on the back, the angel on the bicycle, from the Bicycle back design, starts to cycle towards you, zips around on the back of the card and finally reveals a card which was stuck between the wheel's spokes - of course it is the chosen card.

Is this better than CardToon? That is probably more a matter of taste than anything else. The fact that the angel on the back starts to move and cycle around is a big surprise for spectators. The deck can even be spread a bit without revealing any markings on the cards. In that sense the deck allows for more casual handling without giving anything away before the trick has started.

Remember that USPCC has stopped to print decks with altered Bicycle backs. This means that Toony Angel will sooner or later become a collector item. Even if you are not planing on performing this effect it will make a nice addition to any card collection.

You will receive a specially printed deck and an instruction booklet.

(We should also not forget that before CardToon David Regal had a flip book type effect called Baby Face. And Paul Harris and Michael Maxwell had an effect called Cardian Angel where the angel on the back of the cards animated and found both a spectator's card and his name.)