D C-T!

Visually and textually witty, D C-T (pronounced, with implied humorous accent, “The City”) is a riff on William Steig’s 1968 collection of word puzzles, CDB. Avillez’s cunning vignettes depict sights that will be familiar to New Yorker readers as well as actual New Yorkers: fire escapes, subways, restaurants, Fran Lebowitz. The collection is a mix of old and new. On one hand, it’s a minimally colored, self-proclaimed paean (“P-N”) to Steig and perhaps to a form of wordplay not often indulged outside of Will Shortz’s universe. On the other, the premise inherently invokes text culture and its Twitterverse renaissance. The fast-paced C-T is always looking for shortcuts, even as Avillez and coauthor Young take time to appreciate small urban moments, from a rat watching a video on a smartphone (it’s a big-screen TV for him) to a young skateboarder telling skeptical cops that the drink in his hand is iced tea (“S I-S T”). Like a sticky song, these puzzle comics evoke both delight and mild annoyance, and there’s a key in the back if the latter overwhelms. But it’s hard to stay mad when there’s a rat or pigeon in a dapper hat on every other page of this breezy charmer. Agents: David Kuhn, Aevitas Creative Management, and Seth Fishman, The Gernert Company. (May)