Brave and the Bold #91

Brave and the Bold #91 (On Sale: June 23, 1970) has a wonderful Batman/Black Canary cover by Nick Cardy. 

"A Cold Corpse for the Collector" featuring Batman and the Black Canary is by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy. Nick takes over the drawing reigns on B&B this issue, and my god, is this beautiful stuff.  This is my favorite time of Cardy's career. He was simply on fire on this book, his first two issues especially. His Black Canary just drips with sensuality. 

When crime boss Rhymer double-crosses the syndicate, pushing Waxie Till of a Gotham bridge, they hire an unseen assassin known as the Collector to enact its revenge. While fishing the body of of the river, Commissioner Gordon and Batman find a stowaway on the police tug: private eye Larry Lance. If that name sounds familiar it is because the Earth-2 Larry Lance was married to Black Canary (Diana Lance) and his death prompted Diana to move from Earth-2 to Earth-1. Larry says he was watching Waxie for a client he will not name.

Batman and Larry have different opinions on who the Collector might be and decide to team up to track him down. When Larry returns to his office he finds a client waiting for him, Diana under an assumed name asking Larry to find her missing husband. It is really a ploy to see if this world's Larry will love her too. 

Later, the Collector murders Rhymer's top lieutenant Turk O'Hare. Batman tries to stop him, but fails, running instead into Larry who was also after the Collector. They find a discarded disguise near by and clues that po9int to Larry being correct on the ID of the Collector. Larry then introduces Batman to the reason he was late getting to the murder: Diana, who Batman recognizes as Black Canary.

When Larry leaves to meet another client, Diana and Batman talk, Batman warning her that this earth's Larry Lance is a harder man than the one she married. After Diana leaves Batman is almost killed by a bomb but is saved by the sonic whammy of Black Canary.

The next day Batman receives a call at Gordon's office saying that Danton, the man he suspects is the Collector, will be at  the museum's sculpture garden to make a "collection." Batman arrives to the closed museum and is suddenly attacked. As he closes in on the gunman, he is shot by Larry. As they leave Batman begins to wonder if Larry's mysterious client might be the Collector.

When Danton turns up dead and for a while, Batman realizes that all the clues they found must have been planted, perhaps by Larry. When Batman goes to warn Diana, she accuses him of jealousy and as he leaves, Larry enter the room having heard them talking and knowing that she is Black Canary. Larry asks her to team up wit him to catch the Collector.

Later the Collector meets with the syndicate and promises to "collect" the death of Batman. A few hours later Batman gets another call from Larry saying the Collector will be at the track at dawn. When Batman gets to the track, he is saved from getting trampled by Black Canary. When Larry exposes himself he is aiming for Batman. All pretenses are gone; Larry is the Collector.

When Canary intervenes Larry tells her to move or die with Batman. Batman shoves her out of the way as Larry shoots. Larry then escapes on a horse and Batman and Canary follow on her cycle. They catch up to Larry and Batman tacks him into a creek. Larry has a knife, but when the fight is over, Larry is dead, killed by his own knife.

With Larry dead, Diana wonders if she will ever find a real life on this earth. This was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-Ups Vol. 2 TPB, Batman in the Brave and the Bold: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1 HC and Batman in the Brave and the Bold: The Bronze Age Vol. 1 TPB. 

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.