Crap Hound was the seminal clipart zine that featured page on page on page on page of artistically arranged black and white design elements and illustrations, grouped on themes like circuses, skeletons, and — in issue five, “hearts, hands and eyes.” I’d always loved the word “craphound,” since I heard it used in the film Local Hero, and when the zine came out, I immediately glommed onto it. In the mid-nineties, I wrote a short story called Craphound, which turned out to be my first professional publication — and so not long thereafter I registered the domain, craphound.com.
Now the zine Crap Hound is back, in a series of reprints from ReadingFrenzy/Show & Tell Press. Yesterday I scored a copy of issue 5 from a dealer at Opentech and was completely delighted to once again hold a copy of this magnificent zine. According to the interior,, Show and Tell will be shortly reprinting issues 2 and 3 (Sex and Kitchen Gadgets), issue 4 (Clowns, Devils and Bait), and issue 6 (Death, Telephones and Scissors), along with an all-new issue number 7 (Church and State).
Crap Hound is mesmerizing — browsing the pages is a near-mystical experience. At $8 an issue, it’s a steal, too.
(note to Reading Frenzy/Sean: my offer to set up mag.craphound.com or zine.craphound.com and point them wherever you’d like still stands)