The New York Sun — which debuted on the city's streets today — may be hoping to scrape away at the Times readership, but you wouldn't know it from the front page. Its nine stories and two color photos (one with an extended caption) are a lot to take in at first glance, but hardly any of it is actual news.

Of the nine stories, there's a sports piece; a Peggy Noonan column about Lech Walesa; an interview with Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi; two fluff pieces about, respectively, Salman Rushdie's agent and the world's largest known ant colony; an analysis of Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) Congressional travails; a story about New York wine lovers suing over the right to buy out-of-state wine without a middleman (entitled "Wine Case Is a Corker"); and, finally, two pieces about local and state politics. The list is long. The wow factor — very, very short.

The quality of the stories varies. Seth Mnookin's Hillary analysis is good, though hardly groundbreaking. The interview with Chalabi, who most policymakers consider unreliable at best, makes him out to be the be-all-and-end-all pontificator on all things Iraqi. The wine story — a clear shoutout to New York Observer readers — is just embarrassing.

It's the biggest event in New York publishing since Talk's Ellis Island opening bash, but the Sun's debut feels anti-climatic. You can just imagine the Sun's naysayers: "I told you so." Defenders will say that the paper is only working out the kinks, that, like presidents and prime ministers, it should get a 100-day grace period, to get its feet wet and its legs going. On the other hand, these guys are backed by Conrad Black — sorry, Lord Conrad Black. They've had months to prepare and they are the latest of all the New York papers to hit the streets each morning. So what gives? Ultimately, the Sun needs to get in gear, and quick.