Keep looking. They're there.

Immense advantages in my experience, but then I've not used ASP.NET. I hear
it's somewhat better than standard ASP (which I consider evil).

The graphics side of Java won't help you in server-side development
obviously, but Java is widely used and highly standards-oriented, both for
standalone and web applications. Assuming you're looking into Java strictly
for web development, I'd advise you to learn the basics of the Java
language, such as primitive types, exception handling, operators, and
syntax. Then spend some time getting a feel for object oriented programming
(any good Java primer will have a good bit on that). Then finally look into
J2EE. That's Java 2 Enterprise Edition. It's all about web development. Look
into servlets first, then JSPs. Again, a basic Java book should at least
touch on these subjects. Eventually look at an application framework like
Struts. You can ignore AWT and Swing, which should cut several chapters out
of your reading. On a side note, one of the great things about developing in
Java is that it's totally free. You can download the Java SDK, an IDE
(NetBeans, Eclipse, JDeveloper), and a servlet container like Tomcat, and
run them all for free at work, at home, or anywhere in between.

language comparison cheerleading belongs in comp.lang.java.advocacy.

First off, you can't compare Java over ASP. ASP is a web technology,
built using tags in an ASP page that is compiled by the server. Java
encompases much more.

I think you wish to compare JSP vs ASP. JSP is Java's answer to ASP.

--
now with more cowbell

Bryce is right that Java is more than a web application technology.  
You're finding that out if you're reading about applets.  You won't use
applets in your particular development area, and keep in mind that books
that start with applets tend to be poor ones from a language standpoint
(which is what you *will* need to know).

The biggest advantage you ought to find in using Java over ASP for web
development is exactly that Java is a bigger language and used for a lot
of different things, and that this is reflected in the way you approach
web development with JSPs.  While it's possible to write a bunch of Java
code in JSP pages, this is about the worst way to proceed.  If you do
your job right, 90% of the code you write for a web application will be
in Java classes that are used by your JSPs.  That's getting even more
true with time.

I can't explain Java web application development in a newsgroup post,
but if you want to jump ahead and get an idea of where you're heading,
browse through some books on:

  1. Servlets and JSPs
  2. JSTL and JSP 2.0 (including EL)
  3. Tag libraries
  4. Struts or JSF

Particularly the last (Struts or JSF) should help a lot, because these
kinds of books will focus on how you would organize the pieces of a web
application in Java.  For the more challenging tasks that involve more
than the presentation layer, you're dealing with core Java programming
outside of a web context, and there are a lot of libraries for solving a
variety of difficult problems in Java.  Which you choose will depend
heavily on what problem you're actually solving (and not at all on
whether your solution will be presented via a web page).

keep reading....

- perry