A Tribute to Harry Lucey, a forgotten artist

Like so many of the other men who entertained generations of children, Harry Lucey remains as anonymous in death as he was in life.

Born in 1913, Lucey graduated from Pratt University in 1935 as an illustrator, and his career in comics began in the late 1930s. He bounced around various companies in the 1940s, drawing such characters and features as Madam Satan, Magno, Crime Does Not Pay, and even, for a handful of issues, Captain America. He worked with Bob Montana in a studio on Union Square (New York) in the early 1940s prior to their induction into the army. Lucey and Montana graphically created the characters in the 'Archie' comic series. 

 Sam Hill, the 'Private Eye' series

During World War II, Lucey, along with Montana, worked as photo interpreters and map makers in Colorado Springs, Colorado. When he was discharged from the army in St. Louis, Missouri, he began doing magazine and other types of illustration for Ralston Purina and Burts, Bakers, and Chandler's Shoes. He eventually moved back to New York with his family, and was re-employed by Archie Comics Publications in 1949. Lucey was one of the regular 'Archie' comic book artists from the 1950s to the 1970s. 

In most years Lucey penciled and inked a page a day, often drawing the complete contents of the Archie comic book every month in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Lucey’s work is distinguished by his close attention to the body language, or acting, of every character he drew. Each aspect of a Lucey figure is drawn to express what that character is feeling at that moment. Posture, position and facial expression are all geared toward maximizing that moment in the story, and Lucey was equally dedicated to refining the depiction of action with a minimum of lines.

The Private Eye Series
The character Sam Hill, an “Ex Ivy League halfback” private eye with a white streak in his hair, is rendered with loving precision and an acute attention to detail. Lucey was certainly influenced by film noir’s expressionist angles. The sixth page of “The Cutie Killer Caper” contains six panels, all drawn from a different angle — from below Sam Hill to over a cop’s shoulder, to above Hill and the cop, and finally to a level over-the-shoulder shot from behind Hill.

Lucey never returned to Sam Hill after his final issue, and toward the 1960s he developed an allergy to graphite, reportedly wearing white gloves while drawing. In the 1970s he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease and, sometime later, cancer. He refused treatment for the latter and died in Arizona in August, 1984 (based on Ancestry.com search)  from all these complications.

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Read here two vintage detective stories of Sam Hill adventures... Happy Weekend...

Sam Hill's Adventures

(Size: 14.6 MB)