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.
[1] Though he continued to draw action and romance comics for the company, including the hard-boiled mystery Sam Hill, Private Eye, his primary work was on their popular teen humor titles.
He also drew most of the company's in-house ads, and contributed many covers to titles like Pep Comics.
Since his death, Lucey's work has been rediscovered by younger cartoonists who celebrate his mastery of body language and physical comedy.
"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.