Dark Avengers Annual #1

 Quick summary:

Great art, great writing, major character development, and a small self-contained story that will have an impact on the larger Marvel U. If (and only if) you are having fun with Dark Reign and the Dark Avengers, this is an easy buy.
 

A few comments:

• Finally we get to see what happened to Noh-Varr! I have always been bugged by how Noh-varr just fell off the map in the early issues of Dark Avengers, I was worried that he was dropped out of writer's convenience and that his inclusion was just a mistake. Even if that is true, Noh-Varr is written right back into the story seamlessly and brings yet another exciting element to the coming close of Dark Reign. 
• Great art! I have always dug Chris Bachalo's art and it works great in this book, it brings a youthful, energetic vibe to Noh-varr's story and keeps the story moving along smoothly. The selective coloring also works great in book and also helps encourage that youthful vibe. Its almost as if the light source emits color on a black and white world.
• This book is just fun. For what could have easily been a simple brooding thought bubbles - punch - talk - cliffhanger story, this book does a great job of creating a self-contained, concise story. I try not to give any spoilers in my reviews so I won't go into details, but I think the interior - monologue is kept light and informative, the everyday interactions were believable and fun, and the character development is interesting and will definetly have me coming back for more.

 
All in all, I dig it!