DETECTIVE COMICS (vol. 1) #22 (December, 1938). Cover by Jim Chambers.
(Apologies for the racist caricature on the cover. It was an unfortunate practice at the time.)
This issue marked the first- and only - cover appearance of The Crimson Avenger, DC Comic's first masked hero. The Crimson (as he was oft called) made his debut two months earlier in Detective Comics #20.
Writer/artist Jim Chambers created the character, and produced the first ten stories that ran in Detective Comics #20-29. The character was absent from Detective until issue #37. Chambers wrote, but did not draw, the story in that issue. The following issue (#38) saw writer/artist Jack Lehti take over the character.
The Crimson Avenger was little more than a clone of radio hero The Green Hornet. Both were young, crusading newspaper publishers who donned a mask to fight crime. Both posed as a criminal to better infiltrate the underworld, were armed with gas guns (although The Crimson was not adverse to using .45s as well), and had Asian valets that assisted them in their exploits.
Because everyone thought The Crimson Avenger was a criminal(again, just like The Green Hornet), the police were always trying to arrest him.
While he may have been DC's first masked hero, The Crimson was soon eclipsed by another masked hero who debuted not long after him: The Batman! Batman quickly became the most popular feature in Detective Comics, which probably explains why The Crimson took a sabbatical soon thereafter.
Even after The Crimson returned to Detective, he did not quite catch on. Also, superheroes were taking over as the mainstays in comic books, and the "masked avenger"-type heroes were phased out. That's why The Crimson Avenger donned a superhero costume in Detective Comics #44.
