The Ed Prints, 1992, based on the Ed Paintings of 1988, tell a story which stars two heroes: a dramatic character named Ed, and a linguistic one, -ed, the suffix of the past-tense verb, created by the justified right-hand margin. The action is propelled by the linguistic events, rather than by the dramatic ones, making the circumstances of the plot murky. It is known, however, that the narrative involves two women, Rosa and Blanch, another man, Mike, two (possibly four) deaths (possible murders), and resurrection. The linguistic episodes concern duality as well: verbs acting as proper nouns and proper nouns, as verbs ("Surprise!"), look-alike words and sounds created by homonyms, repeated syllables, and stuttering ("Technical Difficulties" and "Sp-spit it Out"), and double meanings ("Blanks"). Implied by the deaths of Mike's microphone and of Ed are two linguistic casualties: the now silent, unamplified voice and the inefficacy of language (Ed's riddle). But the final panel suggests that after death there is life, because it has been recorded by memory, on tape ("memorx"), and of course in writing -- The Ed Prints.

Kay Rosen