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March 1985
Poor Trudy begins the cover tradition, Top Ten on My Walkman, the infamous fake show ad, comix, “Surpressed” MRR scene report, “Dune” review, the first Killing Joke.
From 1985 to 1990, Steve Millen published ten issues of the humor zine Tussin Up. This site presents a digital archive of these issues. For a more detailed discussion of Steve and this site, visit the About page. This site was originally published in 2002, and in 2022, it led to a similar project for a number of other zines, zines.whybark.com.
Since these are essentially just scans of the zines, you may appreciate a quick rundown of just what kinds of shenanigans Steve was up to in each issue. The descriptions below, where possible, are taken from "Back Issues" descriptions that appear in some of the zines.
Tussin Up #2
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April 1985 “second big issue!”
Party reviews, gore movie reviews, Bill E. Goat interview part 1, Killing Joke: B’ton City Council buys Brooklyn Bridge from Westinghouse (Incinerator EPA Consent Decree).
Tussin Up #3
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May 1985 “barely”
Crevo stuff, Top Ten on My Walkman, comix, Tussen-Up Party Reviews, Art Opening Reviews, conclusion to Bill E. Goat interview, Tussen Turtle manifesto hilarious, Erotic Stick Figures, cover for issue that never was.
Tussin Up #4
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Summer 1986: The return of…
Hardcore & in Bed by 11 1986 Scene Report; record, party, bad beer & art show reviews; CIA/Tussin Up Bloomington Sabotage manual in lieu of Killing Joke.
Tussin Up #5
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Spring, 1987. Special “Just Say No” issue: “Please, no issue!”
Newspaper clippings, including the bowling ball happy ad, an advice columnist on John Hinckley, and a parody of the “Freedomgram”; Tussin-Up reviews the world’s great religions; Why I HATE the Grateful Dead; Andy Warhol Drops Dead; Art Police ticket; comix; Evangelical Report; Movie Reviews
Tussin Up #6
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Summer, 1987. Special South Side of the Square Punk Rock Revival issue
Letters, T-Shirt update, Punkrock Horoscope, Punkrock Show Review Toxic Reasons @ the Gathering, Punkrock Tourist Guide to Bloomington, Dry Farm rehab Reviews, Dumpster Reviews, “Night the Final Frontier” reprint, the Gab-Fly parody, Ollie North Killing Joke.
Tussin Up #7
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Fall, 1987. Punk Rock Interview cover
Punks get interviewed by journalism students; John Birch Society gets wise to Tussin-Up; Call the cops on lame parties; RFNR letter to the editor in Greene County; Daily Grind crossword; bogus concert ads explanation; Killing Joke: handcuffed kid “suicides” in Indy cop car.
Tussin Up #8
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Spring, 1988. Gates of Hell: Tussin Kills. Last Poor Trudy cover
Cough syrup implicated in murder, letter from another “anti-drug” ‘zine, League of Nonvoters Candidate Survey, Nancy Reagan’s star chart, Inside ROTC, the Fall of the 3-D House of Y-Bark, IDS closes all ages venue, B-ton zine reviews, Joey Z and JonNelson contributions, Bobby Knight and Ollie North, Middle East Killing Joke
Tussin Up #9
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Fall, 1988. Hell Sent Hell Bent cover by Tussin Cat Spray
Clippings, S. Romilar runs for Mayor, JonNelson, Maxwell Malice comic, Night of the Grateful Dead Steve becomes ‘Satan’, Truth in Advertising Section real life classifieds, Bank ad, Letters, Stealing Joke instead of a Killing Joke.
Tussin Up #10
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May, 1989. Tales From the Drunkside cover by Zac Burke
Letters from Burd and JonNelson, an “i found it” note, clippings, Tussin-Update, advertising update, Marriage in Monroe County, Collins Dorm Shows, Tales from the Drunk Side, The Deadheads Talk Back, Lifetstyles of the Grateful Dead and Dying, Orange Alternative political surrealists, GHWB I Killing Joke
Tussin Up’s Time’s Up
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May, 1989. Best of Tussin insert for Tussin #10
Steve reprints his favorites from four years of Tussin with commentary worth reading. Includes “Hardcore and in Bed by Eleven” from issue 4, and also the Justice Douglas Ginsberg “piss test” insert from issue 7 which we don’t otherwise have. Everything else is found in the archive.
Issue #1: MRR scene report, Anarcho-godzilla comix, erotic stick figures; Issue #4: Hardcore and in Bed by Eleven, CCAA at Culturestock; Issue #5: Bowling Ball happy ad, Tussin-Up reviews the world’s great religions, Andy Warhol Drops Dead, But what about ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’?; Issue #6: Punkrock Tourist Guide to Bloomington, Daily Grind Crossword Puzzle; Issue #8: Fall of the 3-D House of Y-Bark; Issue #7: Reason for No Rock Concerts, Ginsberg insert; Issue #9: Truth in Advertising Section, Mayoral potshots, Night of the Grateful Dead.
A Millen Miscellany
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Steve refers to three pranks within Tussin Up that I have paper evidence for.
First, some Indianapolis punk rockers pranked Bloomington with a flyer advertising a nonexistent show in vengeance for an ad Steve ran for a fake show in an early issue.
Second, Steve ran for mayor and I kept the invitation to his kickoff party.
Third, Steve started a long-running prank known as “Concerned Citizens Against Art”; here’s the membership brochure and the original art police tickets.