Yummy

Review
By Chicagoist

When Yummy’s story was making headlines and the front cover of TIME Magazine, Greg Neri was a filmmaker teaching workshops to inner-city Los Angeles kids. Gangs were part of the students’ daily lives, and Yummy could have very well been one of their friends or siblings. So Neri decided to write a graphic novel based on Yummy’s story to use the tragedy to teach kids a lesson. With help from illustrator Randy DuBurke, Neri tells the true story of Yummy through the eyes of a fictional classmate. DuBurke’s illustrations, black-and-white and excellent at showing emotion and shadow, carry readers through the story about a kid who was essentially doomed to die on the streets since the day he was born. Neri and DuBurke explore the commonality in Yummy’s life. He was just another violent kid terrorizing the Roseland just like the all others. But, Neri tries to tell his young readers, Yummy did have a choice about his future. He chose gangs, and it was the choice that led to his death. —Chicagoist