I found the Hamthology to be quite an enjoyable read, with three of the stories standing out from the pack of cute tales.

The first of these was "Onward!" by Diana Mejia and Denny Iskandar. I was amazed at how the team was able to tell such a story without any dialogue at all. The art was well done, and the fact that Diana's feelings were conveyed solidly through the panels strengthen this sentiment. It stirred up my memories of applying to University 5 years ago myself, and was completely relatable.

"Hyperion" by Marc DeRosier and Jenny McKinney also surprised me, for its more serious tones amid such a light-hearted volume. Personally, that was refreshing. Although I'm not particularly fond of the art style used in this tale, it was still done well. Being darker than the others, the art added much to the atmosphere. Even so, the ending still made me go "Awww!" and brought a few tears to my eyes.

Finally Agyidyne's story, "Stars", brought yet another style of storytelling to the table. It was interesting, and I still wonder at the ending. As with the previous two accounts, the art matched up perfectly with the story. I'm glad to be left with something to think about!

Of course, no publication is perfect. I caught a couple of typos here and there - but I see just as many (and sometimes more) in the works of such professionals as J.K. Rowling and Terry Pratchett. In an amateur piece such as this, it is most certainly forgivable.

The other flaw with the volume was that the printing was inconsistent - most pages look brilliant, but there are a few that Lulu's press have mucked up somewhat, being of lesser quality than the bulk of the pages. Hopefully, Lulu will invest in higher dpi-capable printers in the near future.

Overall, the stories are cute and the art is clean. This volume shows promise for the participants involved, having done excellently for their first self-published work. My favourites were "Spybreak!" by R. Bail and Sylvia T. Leung, and the aforementioned "Hyperion". I look forward to the next volume, hoping for more depth and a higher quality printing job.

As webcomics have become more popular, more and more people are seeking to cash in on the phenomenon. Some of the publications - such as Josh Lesnick's Girly - are artistic works of wonder that demonstrate how well the artform has matured. However, the large majority of these publications, especially self-published books, tend to be just so much flotsam in print form. Sadly, this "hamthology" falls into the latter category.

The art is the strongest part: the contributing artists clearly know how to hold a pen and use a tablet, though there are no stand outs in this group. The layout is all right. The stories are the weakest part: not a single story will make you feel "Whoa." In fact, none of the stories will elicit any kind of emotion, good or ill.

In the end, this is a book to buy to support the effort. But it won't be the star of anyone's collection. It should only be bought if you have money to burn and already own all the really good comic anthologies out there.