Ching Lung, from the first ever issue of
Detective Comics; before Batman showed up in #27 and took over that book, before even
Action Comics #1 and the introduction of Superman, there was this dude. This racist-ass yellow peril motherfucker.
Also debuting was the hero of the story Ching Lung is the villain of: Slam Bradley, who went on to be an important character in the Brubaker
Catwoman series, and I guess is technically the first DC protagonist (but not first superhero)?
There's not many writers who I'd trust with handling something like this, but Gene Luen Yang is absolutely capable.