Avengers Annual #1- There are so many reasons why this book bugs me, and all of them make me desperately wish Bendis would leave the Avengers.  So let’s start with the package itself. Thirty-two pages of story for $4.99 is kind of a crap deal, especially considering this is a Bendis script. You just don’t get a solid enough story in the small amount of pages presented. Then you have Dell’Otto’s art, which is still ok despite not being in his usual painted style but I’m pretty sure most people who buy a book for his art are doing it for the painted style. Considering this book is so late and that the first issue was painted, you would have thought the holdup would have been for painted art. On top of that, he has some pretty lazy copy-and-paste panels showing up.

Speaking of being late, this crap doesn’t fit anywhere in any type of continuity I can comprehend. Wonder Man was whining about stuff a while back, but we’ve had like four Marvel events occur between then and now that I’m pretty sure this should have happened a year ago. They have Eddie Brock running around fighting the heroes and getting arrested when I’m pretty sure he was saving New York in Spider-Island and was declared a hero at some point. Most of the other guys on Wonder Man’s team, ok fine repurpose their personalities on a whim because who really cares about Century or Devil-Slayer. I’m not really down with the D-Man disrespect but whatever, although having Atlas go crazy like this is sort of a pisser if you ever followed the character through Thunderbolts.  The part that just strikes me as bad storytelling is that the team goes down so quickly despite the Virtue character basically being Superman. There’s just a lack of overall pacing and the book begins and ends on weak notes. There’s nothing here that makes me give a flying crap about any of the characters. Seriously, time for a change. I would kill to get some Jeff Parker or Abnett/Lanning writing on the Avengers. C

Fatale #1- If you like Criminal or Incognito, you’re pretty much guaranteed to like this book. I don’t have much to add because anyone who follows either of those titles is familiar with the high quality of work you get from a Brubaker/Phillips collaboration. $3.50 is a little pricey for twenty-four pages of story but there are no ads and you get the usual bonus material in the back that you get from their other collaborations, so it’s worth the admission. A-