This feature is called "Almost Hidden." 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 in print (I'd say roughly 60% of them are DC Comics from the 1980s through the mid-1990s). So in this feature I spotlight different cool comic books that are only available as back issues.

Reader Stephen M. wrote in to suggest Karl Kesel and Cary Nord's run on Daredevil (Daredevil #353-364). I'm sure others have suggested that well over the years, as it really is ridiculous that it has not been collected. It feels like every Daredevil run has been collected over the years except for this one!

EDITED TO ADD: REJOICE! It's still hidden, but it WILL be collected in June! Huzzah! Thanks to J. David Weter and ManWithoutFear.com for filling me in on the happy news!

Daredevil was coming off some SERIOUS lean time when Kesel took over the book. In an attempt to compete with the "kewl" comics of the 1990s, they "killed off" Matt Murdock, with Matt taking the name Jack Batlin and becoming a sort of con man while still remaining Daredevil. Then he sort of went nuts and the comics got super dark there for a while until Matt worked through a nervous breakdown with the help of Karen Page (who was reunited with her "dead" ex-boyfriend) and Foggy Nelson, who found out Matt's secret identity for the first time.

Kesel, then, wanted to take the book in a whole different direction. You could tell from the first page of his first issue...

Come on, that's an AMAZING first page for a run, right?

Cary Nord and Matt Ryan were a heck of a team. After that brilliant opening page, the full scene shows Kesel's new take on Daredevil, where he is really embracing the DAREDEVIL aspect of his name, bringing a swashbuckling flair to the series...

Kesel was the writer who had to deal with the aftermath of Foggy's new place in Matt's life as his secret identity confidant....

Foggy and Matt are then given an offer from a major firm led by a famous lawyer named Rosalind Sharpe...

It wasn't until just this second that I remembered that we didn't know right away that she was Foggy's mother. Well, I mean, we all obviously know it, but you know what I mean, they actually kept that a secret at first.

In the second issue, Kesel brilliantly brings in Liz Allan Osborn as a new love interest for Foggy...

This was such a breath of fresh air after the dour stories that preceded these issues (although there were some good stories mixed in there, with J.M. DeMatteis and Warren Ellis doing their best with their very limited set-up).

Karl Kesel's run on Daredevil is mostly remembered for being more upbeat than your typical Daredevil run (until Mark Waid, of course), but it was not like Kesel did not know how to tell a nice, noir tale, as well.

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In fact, Kesel's first major storyline was a complex tale of Daredevil being forced into the position of defending Mister Hyde, one of the more vicious killers that he has tangled with - the problem being that this time, he was INNOCENT of the crime he is accused of!

So you get that nice challenge, where you have to ask yourself, "Do I really want to free him of this crime when I know he's gotten away with OTHER crimes and the world is likely better off with Hyde NOT free?"

The story arc, which was drawn by a whole pile of artists (but mostly Cary Nord, Sal Buscema, Steve Epting and Matt Ryan), has Kesel make great work of the larger Marvel Universe, with Misty Knight helping Matt Murdock in the investigation, and the bad guy who turns out to have framed Hyde is The Eel, who is working with the Enforcers (including Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's second-greatest creation after Spider-Man, Fancy Dan). Plus, there is the continuing drama of Karen Page getting her own radio show at a station with familiar call letters.

There is also a crazy fight between Daredevil and Absorbing Man and a fun Spider-Man/Daredevil team-up (during the Ben Reilly era).

The whole thing was very well executed. Gene Colan was ready to return to the series as the artist when Kesel left the book, with Joe Kelly taking over for pretty much the rest of this volume (Scott Lobdell wrote the final story arc before it was rebooted with Kevin Smith, Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti).

Okay, folks, If you have a suggestion for a comic that hasn't been collected into a trade that you'd like to see me spotlight in this feature, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!