Reviewing “New Avengers Annual” #1 is a little tricky for me. Due to my dislike for what Brian Michael Bendis has done with the Avengers, I found myself finding some sort of unintended satisfaction out of what was happening in the issue. Simon Williams, also known as Wonder Man, has put together a team of back burner anti-heroes called The Revengers. His purpose is to confront The Avengers for their past crimes and flub ups and have them answer for them regardless of what it takes.

In his pre-confrontation pep speech, Simon actually makes a compelling argument for how the Avengers have been directly involved in some of the worst events to hit the Marvel Universe. I liked Bendis’ idea here and a lot of what Wonder Man says has merit. The problem is with the way Bendis depicts Wonder Man. He comes across as unhinged and almost petty which wouldn’t be terribly inconsistent with the Simon we’ve seen in past Avengers books. But this story could have been stronger if Wonder Man had been more effectively written. It also felt as if this whole story just popped up out of the blue. This may just be because I haven’t read an Avengers title in a while but there didn’t seem to be much of a buildup. And I’m still not a fan of how Bendis writes the Avengers. I’ve never liked his decision to include Wolverine and Spider-Man and I’ve never cared for Luke Cage. But an even bigger turn-off is the way He writes Jessica Jones. These are some of the reasons I found myself rooting for the Revengers (as misguided as that sounds).

What originally drew me to this book was a preview of Gabriele Dell’Otto’s art. He has a very unique style that is strongest during the frantic and explosive action sequences. There are some really good panels as the two teams face off and Dell’Otto does a great job capturing the sense of motion in some of the fights. He does struggle keeping a steady, consistent look to some of his characters and there are times when they look almost pastey. Dell’Otto uses a energetic but sometimes heavy art style. It works in more areas than not but it’s certainly not as polished as I would have liked.

If you’re able to forgive a few shortcomings there is some fun to be had with this book. There’s a pretty solid story that falls a little short due to Bendis’ mishandling of Wonder Man. The action is fast and furious and is brought to life by Dell’Otto’s art. With a little fine tuning this could be a great story. But due to a few plot problems and art inconsistencies it’s simply a good issue but one with some real potential.