(Wonderworld Comics 009, 1940)
Detective Dr Fung's pal Dan Barrister racks up one of the swifter "this information is impossible/ the impossible thing is right behind me" turnarounds in comics history when he and Dr Fung are kidnapped by a Moth Man about 1.5 seconds after he expresses disbelief in the existence of Moth Men who kidnap people. It turns out that the Moth Men in question work for a super-villainous type named Karno the Chess Man (sometimes Chessman) who lives in what I would call an excessively stair-filled cave considering the tiny little wheels on his mobility aid.
And just why is Karno sending moth-themed henchmen to kidnap people? Why because he doesn't have a full chess set yet and so he must transform moderately thematically-appropriate people into the pieces he is missing. Yes, Karno is an obsessive criminal of the sort that we usually getting punched out by Batman in the 1960s and he thinks that Dr Fung would make a distinguished king.
Dr Fung is no slouch, however, and while the Moth Men are subduing Dan Barrister he slips off into the shadows and starts blasting henchmen with their own ray rifles. In short order he, Dan and Irene Jonson (previously destined to be turned into a chess queen) are winging their way home courtesy of the Chess Man's own ray-powered person launcher, though Karno takes a page from Dr Fung's playbook and escapes in the commotion.
Karno returns in Wonderworld Comics 010, as Dan and Dr Fung return to capture him once and for all, and he is not only easy to track down but almost shockingly easy to disarm, as Dr Fung demonstrates using a moist handkerchief.
The big confrontation between Fung and the Chess Man, as exciting and action-packed as it is, is interrupted by some unfortunate activity in the depths of Karno's lair, proving once again that the coolness factor of living inside an active volcano always comes at a price.
Dr Fung, Dan and Karno make their escape just ahead of a wave of flowing lava - no word on whether any of the Moth Men made it out - and Karno is so grateful for their efforts in saving him that he resolves to turn over a new leaf and turn himself in. A surprisingly wholesome end to the tale, for once!
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