Even with this large amount of comic books that have been collected in trade paperbacks, there are still a number of great comic books that have never been reprinted (I'd say roughly 60% of them are DC Comics from the 1980s through the mid-1990s). So every day this month I will spotlight a different cool comic book that is only available as a back issue. Here is an archive of the comic books featured so far.

I want you folks to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com with your suggestions for comics that I should feature this month. I'd like to see what you all would like to see get more attention.

Reader Jeff R. suggested this issue, which is a fascinatingly uncollected comic - Cerebus #51 by Dave Sim.

You might ask, "Wait a sec, Brian. Are you telling me that there is an uncollected issue of Cerebus by Dave Sim right smack in the middle of two of his greatest stories?" Why yes, that is what I am telling you. Here's the deal. You see, this issue bridges the story between "High Society" and "Church and State," but the "problem" is that this a comedic issue. So Sim didn't think it worked in the collection of High Society to suddenly have a joke issue after the rather serious end of the story. Meanwhile, he felt that the story was so tied into High Society that it did not work as the opener of Church and State, either. Therefore, we get a good issue of Cerebus not collected in any of the Cerebus trades. Fascinating, huh? It was reprinted in Cerebus #0 (along with two other similar "bridge" stories), but not in any of the collections.

The issue was somewhat a riff on a Marx Brothers bit where tons of people kept getting squeezed into a small room. Here, Cerebus is sneaking out of Dodge in the hold of a ship, only a few other familiar faces had the same idea...

The running gag in the issue is that every time Cerebus goes to kill them, another character falls on him.

Here's a funny bit where they have to hide...

Man, Sim really could bring the funny when he wanted to!

The issue continues to the point of absurdity as the story continues. It is a real blast to read. You should pick up a copy!