Comic Title: Secret Origins #5
Publisher: DC (DC Comics Inc.)
Address: 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Cover Date: August 1986
On Sale Date: May 8, 1986 Newsstand Date May 8, 1986
Source: DC Releases, #27

Newsstand Date May 8, 1986
Source: House Ad, Blue Beetle #3, Page 28

Newsstand Date May 1, 1986
Source: Amazing Heroes, #92

Shipping Date April 15, 1986
Source: DC Releases, #27

Shipping Date April 15, 1986
Source: Comics Journal, #107

Copyright Date April 15, 1986
Source: Library of Congress, Copyright Office 1986
DC publication dates beyond April 1981 listed by the LoC
represent shipping dates NOT newsstand sale dates

Shipping Date April 15, 1986
Source: Amazing Heroes, #92

Frequency: Monthly
Cover Price: $0.75
Page Count: 32
Editor: Robert Greenberger

Title: "The Crimson Avenger"
Pages: 21

Feature(s):
Crimson Avenger (of Earth-2)

Writer: Roy Thomas
Writer: Danette Thomas
Penciller: Gene Colan
Inker: Michael Gustovich
Letterer: David Cody Weiss
Colorist: Carl Gafford

Feature Character(s)

• Crimson Avenger (earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Detective Comics #20)

Supporting Character(s)

• Wing (earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Detective Comics #20)

Villain(s)

• A gang of bandits (disguised as martians; no further appearances)

Guest Appearance(s)

• Orson Welles (no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Claudia Barker (a magazine reporter; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Ann Stevens (the secretary of Lee Travis; earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Detective Comics #21)
• Mr. and Mrs. Vangilder and their guests (socialites; no further appearances)
• Bill Dock (a farmer; no further appearances)

Comments:
The Halloween broadcast of War of the Worlds by Orson Welles plays a pivotal role in this story. The October 1938 date aligns with the cover date of Detective Comics #20 which was the first published appearance of the Crimson Avenger.

Lee Travis comments on a news article about Japan's withdraw from the League of Nations, a real event which occurred in early 1933. Wing also mentions the fall of Hankow the previous week. That real event occurred on October 25, 1938. Unless Travis is reading a five year old newspaper, the timeline of these events must have occurred differently on Earth-2.

Synopsis:
Lee Travis, the publisher of the Globe Leader, is interviewed by magazine reporter Claudia Barker. Lee recounts his service in the Spanish Civil War where he was wounded. After returning home, he inherited the newspaper from his godfather. Later, Lee attends a Halloween masquerade dressed as a highwayman. Bandits, using the hysteria created by Orson Welles during his broadcast of War of the Worlds, interrupt the party disguised as martians. They rob the guests including the proceeds of a charity drive to help China. Claudia is killed when the bandits escape.

Lee pursues the crooks. He is assisted by his driver, Wing. Together then stop the bandits, the last of which is shot and killed by a farmer. Lee then retrieves a gold lighter stolen from Claudia by the crooks. An inscription in Latin on the lighter translates to "The Avenger will come".