Lucey, who graduated from the
Pratt Institute in 1935, worked on both adventure and humor titles for MLJ, including acting as the regular artist on
The Hangman, before being drafted into the United States Army. After being discharged, he spent several years working in advertising. In 1949, he rejoined MLJ, which by that time had changed its name to Archie Comics. :Harry was as dedicated as they came. I remember Harry delivering a job three hours late. He came to the art department covered with blood. He had been hit by a car. Though not seriously hurt, he should have gone to a hospital. No way. He had to keep that deadline. He took some white paint, cleaned up the blood from the artwork and went home. Amazing. In the late 1960s, Lucey's health began to deteriorate. He developed an allergy to graphite which required him to wear gloves while drawing. In 1976, he was diagnosed with
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) , and abruptly retired from Archie Comics; his inker,
Chic Stone, temporarily succeeded him as penciller on
Archie. He died of
prostate cancer and complications from ALS in 1984. Since his death, Lucey's work has been rediscovered by younger cartoonists who celebrate his mastery of body language and physical comedy.
Jaime Hernandez frequently cites Lucey as one of his biggest influences in cartooning, preferring Lucey's work to that of his more famous colleague
Dan DeCarlo. "I like them both," Hernandez explained, "but Lucey just happens to be a personal favorite, because I think he was better at drawing natural characters – just their expressions taught me a lot about how I do my comics." ==Personal life==