 Created in the back room of Salt Lake City Weekly (then The Private Eye) with the help of John Saltas, the first issue of SLUG was only four pages long, had a print run of less than 100 issues, and was printed using a photocopier.Early issues of SLUG were distributed in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas.In 1994, Ruppel sold the magazine to Gianni Ellefsen, who distributed SLUG nationally, as well as locally.