Back in 2009 Stephen Kosloff used to do event photography for Gawker. And as he was trying to come up with funny captions for his photographs, an idea was born: he would do a fully photographed comic and publish it as a magazine!
The first issue of Hausfrau, now a bi-monthly print publication, launched out of his East Williamsburg apartment in July 2014. “It’s like a funny comic, but with large photos and horrific outfits instead of illustrations,” told us Stephen.
Hausfrau features serialized photo-comic, The Pharmacologists, which “details the travails of Dagger, who peddles pharmaceutical drugs on the hard, gritty streets of New York;” fine art and other journalism. And the good news is that the back issues are now digitally available on Hausfrau’s website for your enjoyment and pleasure, because as Hausfrau admits on their website: “distribution of the print issue happens on a fairly ad hoc basis.” “We hand out copies at subway stations, or people can subscribe,” adds Stephen.
Hausfrau, which literally means “housewife” in German, is arguably a funny choice for a name for a magazine. “We were going to be called Jazzercise, but we received a cease-and-desist letter from Jazzercise Inc of Carlsbad, CA. I liked Hausfrau because it’s kind of campy, like the magazine,” explained Stephen.
The East Williamsburg dream of the young satirical magazine has recently come to an end, and Stephen has relocated to Ridgewood.”It’s full of freaks and because of $$$$!!!” explained Stephen his reasons.
When asked about their future plans, Stephen smiled and added: “I’d like for it to blow up, and then start printing it exclusively in Mandarin.” Of course!
Hausfrau, check it out online; subscribe; or hope to be the lucky one who randomly finds the magazine distributed.