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The cover to issue #23 was text-only. It read, "The Last Will & Testament of Charles Xavier". On that basis, I felt I had the right to expect, oh I don't know, the last will and testament of Charles Xavier. Oh well, at least the set-up was compelling, and Bendis always writes good character dialogue. So I just read issue #24. And I STILL HAVE NOT READ the last will and testament of Charles Xavier. It has taken Bendis two full issues to ALMOST deliver upon the promise of #23's cover. Fool me once...

I'm not sure what to do with this title. I'm done whining about modern story decompression in this forum and for the most part I've made the adjustment, but then there are titles like "Uncanny X-Men" which delivers about the same amount of story as a Sunday "Calvin & Hobbes" strip. Too bad, because I really have enjoyed Bendis's stories overall, but my patience with his wait-and-see presentation is nearly exhausted. Anyone else bothered by this?

I this a similar stalling tactic in New Avengers and it really bugged me. By the time I got the story implies two covers earlier, it failed to really work for me. The core problem here is the issues covers seem to be potential options for the trade. While they might be great for the overall story arc, they often have nothing to do with the specific issue they are on.

So you're saying then that cover artists, rather than using the cover to reflect the actual content of an issue, are using the monthlies to audition potential trade covers. Hmm. Guess I'll have to file that under "things that bug me about comics that I can't do anything about so there's little point griping about it". That's a shame.