In this commentary on the second edition of Old Lady Harley, I will be discussing the use of
multimodality and intertextuality in the comic. Intertextuality is the author’s references to other media
(books, flms,etc.) while multimodality is the use of visual, verbal, and other modes in a text.
To begin, one page 2,there is synaesthesia used in which certain words in the comic are depicted
to have a certain color,smell, and appearance. The reader is associating the word “BURRRP!”
coming from the monster with an odour because it is green [rotten smelling], textually, it tells the
reader what sound the monster is creating, and the melting visual element of the word dripping
down the panel makes the word just as much a visual part of the comic as well as textual.
Secondly, On page 1, the author’s inserts a Walking Dead zombie as a character in the comic
that does not originally belong to the world of DC comic superheroes, but rather, it was originally
a comic character of another world created by Robert Kirkman and later turned into a very popular
television series. In this sense, the use of the Walking Dead character is effective because the
reader’s are going to understand the reference, whether from the film or the comics, and thus
understand the connection and influence the Walking Dead has on Old Lady Harley, which is a
threat to human civilization and life. Without prior knowledge to this intertextual reference, the
meaning may be lost or hindered because the author’s intent is not being received by the
reader. Lastly, the use of multimodality is depicted through pictorial metaphors.The Walking
Dead zombie is really symbolic of the racial “Other”, who poses a threat on North American
civilization through the influence they may have on the culture, governing system, and overall
life. Thus, it functions as a literary device because the text does not outright refer to the
zombies attacking the U.S./Canadian border as immigrants, but the visual elements of them
climbing up the wall may be interpreted by readers, especially given our current political climate,
as a metaphor for a racial other.

I picked up the comic strip “Old Lady Harley” to review because I have always loved the characters Harley and the Joker for their cunning and tongue in cheek attitudes. While reading this comic, what stood out to me the most was the layout of the comic and how much meaning is inserted into each frame, chosen color scheme, and lettering of the words. First, frames play an important role in the comic to produce a realistic depiction the events at play. In page 1, the frames are intended to mimic a television screen because the comic scene is that of two journalists giving television news about a zombie attack and about the whereabouts of superheroes. The slightly curved edge of the corners and old-school television lines over the panels works as a stand-in for a television screen as well as it works to suggest the time period. Since televisions have improved in quality, it is safe to assume that the comic exists within the time period of the early 90s. Secondly, the color scheme of the comic also works within a time period. On page 3, there is a flashback memory in a grey-black neutral color pallet, depicting past, dark memories. The exception being the color yellow, which is symbolic for fire. Thus, the choice of coloring is not simply for aesthetic purposes but it is also a symbolic element intended to provide further alternate meaning to the comic scene. In addition, the presence of the color yellow against a grey-black background is intended to give off a dramatic, cinematic effect similar to a car explosion in a movie scene. Lastly, the choice of lettering works very well with the flow of the panels so that the author is not in need of guiding the reader’s eye through the use of arrows or numbers. For example, page 11 is a very action crammed comic scene and there a lot of things to take in at once. Despite this, the organization of the panels does not lead the reader’s eye in the wrong direction of the story because while there are overlapping panels, they still maintain a carefully placed chronological order. The sound effects of “CHOOM!” or “BLAMM!”  are internally placed with the coinciding panel so the reader is not confused to which panel the sound effect belongs to. In this sense, the placement of the lettering in accordance with the flow of panels really elevates the emotional impact of the comic scene because they are complementary to each other rather than distinctive and separate functions.