ANTHOLOGIES
Arcana Studio Presents (Arcana Studio)
Three stories, all of them slightly different flavors of "generic fantasy," all of them to be continued in comics on sale later this year, and none of them anywhere near interesting enough to seek out the continuations. C-
Choose Your Weapon (Tokyopop)
A squat black-and-white paperback with excerpts from five new manga-style series -- all of them Korean or American in origin, rather than Japanese, curiously enough. All five are built around fight scenes, only Dan Hipp's "Gyakushu!" has much in the way of original style, and not one makes its source seem interesting. C-
Comic Genesis(Comic Genesis)
Several dozen one-to-three-page strips -- mostly context-free excerpts from longer stories -- by fledgling cartoonists whose Web comics are hosted by comicgenesis.com. Unfortunately, they're all pretty amateurish. D
Comics Festival (Legion of Evil Press)
Short pieces by a handful of gifted Canadian cartoonists. Grab it for Bryan Lee O'Malley's two witty tie-ins with his fabulous Scott Pilgrim series; stay for Hope Larson's charming mini-sequel to her graphic novel "Salamander Dream" and Darwyn Cooke's bittersweet tribute to the late comics master Alex Toth. A
Comic Spectacular (Ape Entertainment)
Six little vignettes previewing six different series, all of them proving that high production values and a range of artistic approaches can't cover up for a bankruptcy of inspiration -- the "Athena Voltaire" story, in particular, is practically "Raiders of the Lost Ark" fan fiction. C-
Digital Webbing Jam 2007 (Digital Webbing)
Five quick pieces -- three of them excerpts, the other two incomprehensible anyway: generic horror, generic superhero stuff, three unamusing pages of the very long-running superhero parody E-Man, and a failed "experimental" piece built out of clip art. D+
Hunter's Moon/Salvador (Boom! Studios)
Two unfinished, boring fragments of stories whose selling point is that they're written by movie people: "Hunter's Moon" by "Ray" screenwriter James L. White, and the wordless "Salvador" by Twin Falls Idaho writer/directors the Polish Brothers. D
Keenspot Spotlight 2007/Wickedpowered (Keenspot)
The thickest giveaway this year: over 100 black-and-white pages, with excerpts of 17 online comics. And the old cliché about cartoonists resorting to the Internet when they're not quite good enough to make it in print? Almost entirely true in this case -- way too many of them are feeble imitations of Scott Kurtz's "PvP." D
Viper Comics Presents (Viper Comics)
Even more out-of-context excerpts from prettily drawn, poorly written, digital-effects-ridden comics by unknowns -- the first three of them from a forthcoming anthology of short pieces about sasquatches. It's an angle, anyway. C-
Virgin Comics Special (Virgin Comics)
The four series excerpted here are based on ideas from some big names (Deepak Chopra! Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics!), and they've occasionally got sumptuous artwork (especially Abhishek Singh's work on "Ramayan 3392 A.D."). Too bad they're also dopey, incoherent and stuffed with clichés. D+
Worlds of Aspen (Aspen Comics)
There are four baffling fragments from Aspen's various series plunked together here, but it's unclear why Michael Turner's studio doesn't abandon the pretense of storytelling and just print 32 pages of scantily clad babes, men and women alike, with impossibly long legs, narrow torsos and odd decorative jewelry: That's what they like to draw, and what their audience pays for when they're not getting it for free. C-
AS SEEN ON TV
Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero/The Lone Ranger (Dynamite Entertainment)
One side's got the first chapter of a prequel to the "Galactica" TV series; the other side's got a sweet but nearly plotless little Lone Ranger story. Both are prettily drawn, and nothing much more than glorified ads for the regular comics. B-
Bongo Comics Free-for-All! 2007 (Bongo Comics)
Evan Dorkin's script for the first Bart Simpson story here captures the snarky, anarchic tone of a pretty good "Simpsons" episode. The other "Futurama"- and "Simpsons"-related tales that fill out the issue? Not so much. Did anybody ask for a Ralph Wiggum solo adventure? B
Family Guy/Hack/Slash (Devil's Due Publishing)
The "Family Guy" side is just like the animated TV show, except that all of its jokes fall flat. Flip the comic over, and you get an excerpt from "Hack/Slash," a tedious bloodbath of a story about a young woman who supposedly hunts down serial killers but spends this episode being tortured by one. Horrid. D-
Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century (DC Comics)
A valiant stab at adapting the animated series, which is in turn based on a long-running comic book, but writer J. Torres and artist Chynna Clugston (both familiar names from indie comics) spend so much time defining their style and explaining the characters that there's not much room left for a story. B-
Transformers: Movie Prequel (IDW)
The first part of a four-issue lead-in to the movie (about the '80s-era plastic toys) that's coming out this summer is gorgeous to look at, with lush, almost painterly artwork by Don Figueroa. But if you're not seriously nostalgic for the Transformers comics of 20 years ago, there's no way to get any pleasure out of the story. C
CURVEBALLS
Pirates vs. Ninjas (Antarctic Press)
The first episode of a longer story, and a good example of a current trend plaguing mainstream comics: cartoonists who mistake stringing together genre clichés for constructing an actual story. Even throwing in some zombies and robots wouldn't have helped this one. C-
The Train Was Bang on Time (First Second)
The opening sequence of Eddie Campbell's forthcoming graphic novel "The Black Diamond Detective Agency," which is based on somebody else's unproduced screenplay, and it shows. Campbell (who drew "From Hell") is one of comics' most gifted stylists, and the 1897 setting is right up his alley; the story's a mess, though. B-
Wahoo Morris (Too Hip Gotta Go Graphics)
A reprint of the 9-year-old first issue of Craig A. Taillefer's series (now a Web comic) about a small-time rock band whose singer is a witch and whose guitarist is infatuated with her. As slice-of-life stories go, it's got a cute concept, but it's too awkwardly drawn and slowly paced. C
Whiteout (Oni Press)
The first issue of Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber's ingenious, gritty 1998 thriller about a U.S. marshal investigating a murder in Antarctica, which is currently being adapted into a movie starring Kate Beckinsale. It's aged well, and this episode ends on a cliffhanger good enough to make you go back for more. A-
Next page: Kid stuff and "Peanuts" misfires