For about a year (or maybe two), Marvel had a gate-fold thingy, where they gave you a brief synopsis of each of the main charecters and also a bit of a summary of backstory relating to current storylines.
That wasn't bad.
I think that all started with Deadpool.
I'm more for the in-issue recap idea than any other, but DC won't go to that for some reason and Marvel stopped doing it all together. It's probably because they want readers to HAVE to buy back issues to know what's going on in a story.
I still think the idea of an annual or semi-annual summary is a darned great one.
