'Steven'.
Doug Allen is best known for his self-syndicated underground comic, 'Steven', which has run for 23 years in alternative weekly papers all over the U.S. 'Steven' has been collected into a dozen volumes by Kitchen Sink Press and Fantagraphics Books, and is being developed into an animated web series. Allen has also been a successful freelance illustrator and contributes regularly to many magazines, including The New Yorker. He was influenced by M.K. Brown and Robert Crumb.
After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design with an illustration degree in 1978, Allen played bass in many rock bands, including 'Rubber Rodeo' which recorded for Polygram Records. The band's line-up included his current collaborator, Gary Leib. Since then, Allen and Leib have created several gallery installations and comic books together, such as 'Idiotland', published by Fantagraphics Books. They have recently worked together to bring some of their characters to life as animated shorts through Leib's company, Twinkle. Allen, his wife and two children live in Rockland county, N.Y.
Allen wrote a personal homage to Robert Crumb in Monte Beauchamp's book 'The Life and Times of R. Crumb. Comments From Contemporaries (St. Martin's Griffin, New York, 1998). In this text he expressed how thrilled he was when Crumb drew himself reading a copy of 'Steven' in the final panel of 'R. Crumb Goes to the Academy Awards' in Premiere magazine.
Doug Allen was an influence on Matt Groening, who placed 'Steven' on nr. 65 in his personal list of '100 Favorite Things'.
