Doug Allen Comics creator
Doug Allen (born February 22, 1956) is an American underground cartoonist, illustrator, and musician. Best known for his long-running comic strip Steven, Allen has over the years collaborated with long-time friend Gary Leib on music, animation, fine art, and comics, including the two-man Fantagraphics anthology Idiotland.In addition to the weekly feature Steven, which ran in college and alternative newspapers from 1977–1994, Allen's comics, gag cartoons, and illustrations have appeared in The New Yorker, BLAB!, Zero Zero, Weirdo, Pictopia, and Duplex Planet Illustrated. In addition to Idiotland, Allen and Leib collaborated on a number of stories in the fund-raising anthology comic Legal Action Comics volume 1, published in 2001.Allen's non-comics work includes Plexiglas paintings based on pinball machine art, most of which he produced in the late 1970s; and a more recent series of "fake" marine art paintings, which he sells on his website.Along with Leib, Allen was a founding member of the Grammy-nominated band Rubber Rodeo from 1978–1982. Allen has played bass for many other bands as well.After attending Brown University for a time, Allen graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (where he met Leib) with an illustration degree. Allen and his wife and two children live in Rockland County, New York.