The Tin Can Society #4 // Review
There are a lot of things that can someone over the edge. Sometimes they’re swift and efficient. Sometimes they take years. For Wally Gilmer, it took eight concussions and a whole lot of time. Maybe it could have happened after the first couple of incidents. Maybe it was that eighth one that really did it. Whatever it was, Wally had a hell of a time...a time that is explored in The Tin Can Society #4. The writing team of Peter Warren and Rick Remender continue their exploration of aggression in an issue brought to the page by artist Francesco Mobili and colorist Chris Chuckry.
Wally had been drifting for a while after that eighth concussion. A lot of things could have happened to him as he listlessly moved through what was left of his life. An encounter with a super-powered exoskeleton was what really did it, though. There was something of a collision that took place between Wally and Johnny. There was something more, though. There was a guy named Adam. Adam hadn’t had the healthiest upbringing, but it wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary. Sometimes even the most mundane circumstances can cause the greatest tragedies.
Warren and Remender have put together an interesting amplification of aggression on the comics page. The exploration of the nature of anger and frustration hits on subtle and not-so-subtle levels that all have a really impressive sort of impact on the page. There is quite a bit in the way of actual action on the page, but really the heart of it is the drama that drives the action. The cycle of violence that echoes and reverberates through society. There is quite a lot of that being explored on the page as well. It all seems more or less perfectly matched with the comic book format.
Mobili has a talent for bringing intricacy and emotion to the page in the faces of the characters. There's a lot of subtlety going on. There's a lot of emotional intensity being brought to the page and the faces of the people involved. But there's a variety of different emotions and they're all very conflicted on quite a few different levels. And this is probably the greatest strength of the series. Is the emotional complexity that's being brought to the page without any need for a whole lot of overly-rendered dialogue.
There may not be a whole Lotta poetry in the way that the script makes it to the page in direct words. However, there's quite a lot going on in and around the edges of everything with respect to circumstance, and the way it hits the page. And the guilt that people feel. It's quite a lot being explored here on quite a few different levels. It can , fun to explore between the panels. A lot of interesting ideas being explored around the edges of the action that are very provocative on a intellectual level. The fact that Mobili and company are able to do this without making it feel all too heavy-handed is quite an accomplishment.
