Reprints of the strip also appeared sporadically in Gay Comix under the editorship of Howard Cruse, Robert Triptow, and Andy Mangels.
Poppers focused on Billy, a West Hollywood muscleboy, and his sidekick Yves (based on Mills), a big-hearted nebbish who offered good advice and caution (usually unheeded) for his glamorous friend.
He did, however, attend ACT UP demonstrations in Los Angeles and design posters for the offshoot organization Queer Nation, concerned with gay visibility.
Though overshadowed by contemporaries such as Tim Barela and Howard Cruse, both of whom also worked with continuing characters in comic strip format, scholars[example needed] have stated that Mills made a substantial contribution to gay cartooning.
[2] In his work Mills focused heavily on the AIDS crisis, as mass-produced comic books such as Meatmen allowed for a larger audience and greater exposure to the epidemic's social issues.