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I have an idea for an anual issue I'd purchase if it were available. Due to the famous "Black Hole" in the submissions department that prints publishable modules 8 to 12 months after their submissions and subsequently creates stockpiles in the offices, could an annual Special Issue of Dungeon containing several modules be time and cost feasable? I think each of the big problems all could be addressed:
A) Not enough staff / editors: Yeah, this is the toughy but there's got to be a way to make it feasable. This is only 1 Super Issue per year, perhaps 2 1/2 months of editorial labor and prep; sounds like seasonal work. Could you hire some English Majors or HS English teachers on Summer break? Put a couple of your editors available to answer specific D&D questions but the layout for the mag should be pretty standardized -- a training workshop for the temps could go a long way.
B) Too expensive: Admittedly I'm not a finance guru but it seems that many magazines have once a year special editions; don't they make oodles of money from them? You could at least do a cost / benefits analysis. It need not be a hardcover like SCAP!
C) Putting out 2 magazines the same month with no gimmick to seperate the twain -- they're the same save one has more modules: Make the regular the one with the epic lvl adventure, or the one that kicks off (or concludes) the new AP, or includes a glossy poster, or contains the Return to the Ghost Tower of Inverness or whatever...
D) We don't have THAT much of a stockpile OR Yeah there's stuff here but it's not to Quality: I don't see this as too big a problem. If you only do it once instead of once a year, big deal. No one will mind and in fact it would be more collectible (not that that's what you're aiming for). As far as quality, this seems contrary to what you've been implying for quite a while. As a customer who enjoys the magazine and the messageboards, I have the impression that you do have enough solid stuff for one year's Super Issue at least.
Well, just a thought -- you know, kind of like the one from the guy that asked if you could run a series of connected modules starting from 1st lvl and going up to 20.
Thanks for your time,
-W. E. Ray