How do you feel about recap pages in comic books? Are they a necessary reminder of Who? What? Why? etc? or are they simply a waste of a page that could be used for the story?

I can see both sides of this. On the one hand if you have been reading along you might not need a summary of recent events and taking a whole page to tell it is one less page of actual story. But on the other hand this might be the first issue someone has picked up and it would be helpful for them to know a little background.

I know that when I first started reading super hero comics back in the ancient 1980's the Marvel books would have "Previously" content embedded in the actual story. A character would show up and there would be several panels (or pages) dedicated to what that character has been up to. I thought it was pretty cool, and still do, but in hindsight I realize that there was a lot of repetition. Reading an Avengers book you get a page and a half on the origin of Wonder Man then another page on what the Grim Reaper did in Marvel Team-Up #whatever which could have been summed up in a paragraph or two on the opening page. Then, 6-8 issues later, there would be another similar recap.

It's interesting to see how Marvel has handled this over the years. Going back to the eighties as you mentioned, I liked the flashbacks that would cite events and footnote them regarding what had happened previously. I once heard Jim Shooter mandated that every issue of every book would mention the origin story of each title character, to familiarize new readers. That's why, for example, you'd have a random thought balloon where Daredevil would think "ever since the accident that blinded me also heightened my remaining senses to superhuman levels" or something in every issue. Kind of odd dialogue, but a good writer could make it work.

Later in the late nineties they briefly had covers that opened up into a gatefold that was used to recap the story. That was cool.

No idea what they do now. I know the footnoted flashbacks are long gone, unfortunately.

They definitely help. If it's been a while since I last read the previous issue, it helps get my mind in the right spot. Especially if reading a series that is a spinoff or alternate timeline, etc.

They don't take up much space. If you don't need a refresher, no one is forcing you to read it.

Those were awesome! They would give a recap and a sentence or two on each character appearing. The best part about those were that they didn't take away a story page.

I struggle with remembering things, so they definitely help a lot.

What I think are a huge waste of space are when comics have 6+ pages in the back of the comic showing how the story boards came together or all of the alternate covers.

Sounds like a way for them to pad the page count (or cut story page count) without actually having to pay someone for story while still making the book look its regular size.