The Vigilante - 1st App/Pitch Piece by Mort Meskin 1940/41 - published - Alter Ego #24 (2003); Comics World (1975)

This is thev very first appearance of The Vigilante: it is the actual "pitch piece" that Mort Meskin made of the character in 1940/41 to show it to DC Comics in the hopes they would take it and run it as new strip in one of their comic books.

This piece has been published multiple times including in Robert Jennings Comics World fanzine #20 (1975), the cover to Alter Ego #24 (TwoMorrows Publishing May 2003), and in CFA-APA #29 (Jan. 15 1993) accompanying an article by famed Golden Age comic art collector Ethan Roberts.

Meskin created the Vigilante and used this pin-up to pitch him to DC Comics which liked what they saw and Vigilante made his comics debut in Action Comics #42 (DC 1941).

And, here is some background from long-time comic dealer and collector, Mitch Itkowitz:

"I bought this from George Roussos back in 1977. Roussos got this from Meskin back in the 1940s. I kept this until late 1979 when I sold this to Ethan Roberts. Ethan kept this in his collection till he passed away in 2017 (R.I.P)" at which point Mitch repurchased it from the estate.

Below are some of the times it was published --