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Harley Quinn and Black Canary

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In this comic, Harley Quinn is messing with Black Canary by making her think that she has caught explosive slippers when in actuality, they are just regular slippers that Harley wears around the house. This is a great example of the principles that McCloud lays out because it shows many different aspects of what he was talking about. In the first two panes of the comic, the artist shows movement by adding abstract lines out towards the audience in the first pane and then horizontally in the second pane to show what direction the objects are moving in. These lines make the reader feel like they are in the story themselves. The author also does not add in the background art in these panes because they want you to focus on the action and facial expressions without distraction from the scenery. In the third pane, we see a close up of Harley Quinn's face which shows detail so we can vividly see her reaction to these events and at the same time, get the feeling of "other" as McCloud spoke about. This feeling of "other" is important in this moment to see Harley Quinn as the villain and to give her a sense of eerie-ness while she tells Black Canary that the slippers she just threw are explosive. In the next frame, we see their surroundings again which is important because it gives the reader the sense of urgency since we are reminded that they are in a small, underground place. We also see the return of the abstract lines so we know which direction Black Canary threw the slippers and how fast she threw them. In the second to last pane, the entire background is abstract lines which is important because it shows the sense of chaos and irregularity that Black Canary is feeling. In the last pane however, all of the chaos suddenly stops with the absence of the abstract lines as Harley Quinn tells Black Canary that it was just a joke! It is important to note as well that throughout the comic, there is a consistent light source of a light/lime green which adds to the creepy/dingy feeling of their surroundings.

Comments

  1. Jordan DokupilSeptember 4, 2019 at 7:43 PM

    Hello!

    While I was reading your blog post, you made excellent points about the artistic styling of the background in each panel. I never thought about it when the background would be absent while a character gives a long speech or talk about something important that might be used for later in the graphic novel. I also like how you dissected each panel and used the information from McCloud book to explain the panel.

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