Sean Tejaratchi
creator of Craphound, available at Reading Frenzy

Way back in 1994, a zine came out that blew people's minds, but not with words; with images. Sean Tejaratchi's Crap Hound was like a Clip Art book gone insane. Except, as he later learned, he couldn't really call it "Clip Art" for legal reasons. So it became "a picture book for discussion and activity." It was beloved by both design snobs and anyone who wanted a cool image for their band's poster. Tejaratchi became a reluctant star of the zine world and was even the art director for the Mercury when it began. He now lives and works in Los Angeles. Chloe Eudaly of Reading Frenzy has taken on the daunting task of re-issuing past (now hard-to-find) issues of Crap Hound under the moniker Show & Tell Press. The first release is Crap Hound #5: Hands, Hearts and Eyes.

How has Fair Use changed since you started Crap Hound?

In my arena, which is printed visual matter, there seems to be less pressure. The focus has shifted to music, I think. Now there are mash-ups and downloading, P2P sharing, etc. There's much more money involved in music, so that's where the attention is right now. That's where the lawsuits are, too.

Did you go to any churches to raid images for the upcoming "Church and State" issue (due out this Summer)?

No, I found most of the religious imagery through my usual method, which is posing as a child with cancer. I wrote to hundreds of churches, asking in my childish, cancery scrawl if they might have some good line art filed away somewhere.

Who has the prettiest hands you've ever seen?

The hands of an opossum are remarkably dainty, yet still threatening. That's my answer: Possum hands.

Have you ever seen anyone cut their finger off?

Yes, my own. More than once, in fact. I was into "Extreme Cutting" for a while last year. I thought I could do a lot better than gouging my forearm. I really wanted to push the envelope, you know? So whenever a love affair ended, or I learned that someone used a copyrighted image from Crap Hound, I would saw through a finger.