Technology has progressed so quickly in the last two decades that it feels old-school, almost disappointing, to encounter a black-and-white graphic novel. The brain has to work harder to fill in the blanks, to put the characters in context, to watch the story occur “in color.” Nevertheless, some black-and-white comics are worth the effort — and one of those is Yummy (Lee & Low Books), written by G. Neri, with art by Randy DuBurke.
Look at this spread. The narrator, a boy who knows Yummy, is describing events. We follow Yummy from the time he crawls out his grandmother’s window to robbing a convenience store. But look at the bottom of the left page. The three panels at the bottom display the magic of comics. The first shows a man at an ATM, with Yummy in the foreground watching him. The second shows a close-up of Yummy as he makes a decision. The third is a static shot of the night sky in a large city. What has happened in the gutter? Your imagination willingly fills it in. Magic.
