Forgotten comics heroes of color: the Red Mask, the first black masked hero or a white man who passed as black?

(via) Some readers argue that the Red Mask, a dark-skinned man who was clearly inspired by the Phantom, was the first black comic book superhero. Some insist he was a white man who acquired a dark tan after staying in Africa. The mystery of his identity had not been revealed when his newspaper strip was cancelled in 1936. He is Schrodinger's black masked hero. But even if the writer