Johnny Moore is a genius born with spina bifida. He makes friends with a small group - or “society” if you will - at school who help him come up with revolutionary tech that enables him to walk. Then they bury a tin can time capsule so that the book has its title.
Fast forward to the gang in their 30s and, like most high school friends, they’re estranged from one another, and John has basically become billionaire industrialist Tony Stark complete with an Iron Man suit, calling himself the superhero Caliburn. Then John is murdered - whodunit? The remaining members of the Tin Can Society assemble to bring their old friend’s murderer to justice - but what if the killer is among them…
Peter Warren and Francesco Mobili’s comic starts off promisingly but, no pun intended, doesn’t have the legs and falters about the middle point before descending into the worst cliches of the superhero comics genre where it ends.
Part of the problem is the lack of any really likeable characters. I think we’re meant to like Kasia the most, John’s ex and the only girl in the group, but she’s trying too hard to seem cool, dressing like a teenage alt-girl despite nearing middle-age, and comes off as irritating and stupid most of the time. The others are just names - Adam, Greg, Val - without especially memorable characteristics beyond the superficial.
But the story starts off well at least. Writer Peter Warren develops the characters’ backstories, so we get to see what they mean to one another, and even the seemingly noble John Moore is given nuance by showing him to be not that great a person who also messes up when he takes up superheroing. Complexity and attempted depth - not bad. And the murder mystery itself isn’t terrible either - I wanted to see whodunit and why.
Then around the midway point is when it all goes horribly wrong. The mystery is essentially abandoned with an unsatisfying solution, a two-dimensional and hackneyed evil corporation becomes the villain, and a stupid twist cops out on the initial premise. The comic then becomes a tiresome and awful Iron Man comic, replete with an obligatory dumb, loud action finale and a corny ending.
Kudos to the creators for attempting and at least partway delivering on a different superhero comic, but they ran out of ideas and then dithered on for far too long. Nine issues was too much for this book and should’ve been wrapped up sooner, without that banal final act. As it is, The Tin Can Society is a dreary and unmemorable What-If?-type Iron Man story that outstays its welcome.
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