The mild-mannered alter-ego goes back to at least the Scarlett Pimpernel (i.e. BC – before comics) but the hero without a secret identity was around long before the Fantastic Four had no secret identities (1961). Lev Gleason’s Boy Comics (beginning 1942) featured Crime Buster. While he had a name (Chuck Chandler) everyone knew him as Crime Buster and called him CB. He may be best known, but I’m betting there were others who skipped the secret identity as well and who’ve slipped my pre-morning-coffee memory.
The mild-mannered alter-ego goes back to at least the Scarlett Pimpernel (i.e. BC – before comics) but the hero without a secret identity was around long before the Fantastic Four had no secret identities (1961). Lev Gleason’s Boy Comics (beginning 1942) featured Crime Buster. While he had a name (Chuck Chandler) everyone knew him as Crime Buster and called him CB. He may be best known, but I’m betting there were others who skipped the secret identity as well and who’ve slipped my pre-morning-coffee memory.