Cannon and Saber (ironically named, because the assassin who uses guns is Saber and the assassin who uses blades is Cannon) struck an early blow for comics equality everywhere by being a gay couple who avoided traditional gay stereotypes to become a pair of deadly killers instead. Admittedly, noted family activist Donald Wildmon might say there is no difference and all gays are in their own way killers, but Donald Wildmon is whining about the erosion of the traditional family model and Cannon and Saber kill people with guns and knives, so I would suggest: different.
I am not being facetious or snarky, either. In the comics, Cannon and Saber were quite clearly a gay couple – the subtext was, as they say, text. And on top of that, years later some fans to whom this was important asked the writer who invented Cannon and Saber (I believe it was Doug Moench, but don’t hold me to that) if the pair were a gay couple. The writer’s response was essentially “well, duh.” Cannon and Saber are a gay couple. It is canon. (And saber.)
Cannon and Saber are further made good by appearing in the second Vigilante’s comic. The second Vigilante probably had the best run of comics, despite the fact that the first Vigilante (the cowboy with the motorcycle who showed up on Justice League Unlimited a few times) is probably the more iconic Vigilante. (As for the later Vigilantes, let’s just pretend they never happened. At some point you know Geoff Johns will make it so that this was the case anyway.) This means that there is an active lack of bad Cannon and Saber stories, which is always a nice thing.
Because they are skilled assassins who are nonetheless capable of making tolerant second-year university chicks go “awwwwww!”, and that is a skillset both rare and in demand in certain quarters.
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The newest Vigilante’s new series launches this December, actually. But I’m sure the next time Geoff needs something to crank one out off the female one from the Deathstroke series will get decapitated. Just so the readers don’t get “confused”.
Man, I really hate Geoff Johns lately.
I don’t hate Geoff Johns. It’s just so easy to make Geoff Johns jokes, though.
Did you see that they SHARE A JAIL CELL?
Jeez, who comes up with these hairstyles? Is Henry Cannon also secretly a monk? Nobody ever did their hair like that.
You know, before I even read the description I wanted to take the little black blob outlines in that drawing and turn them into hearts.
They have a beach house! For some reason that’s really sweet.
Okay, I like the idea of a couple of assassins who are actually a couple. As the shirtless background pose indicates, they’re clearly bad enough dudes to save the president.
I really don’t like the names, though. As clever as it is to subvert DC’s fetish for significant names (I’m looking at you, entire population of Arkham Asylum), the whole switcheroo is just too confusing. It’s just not reader-friendly. Ask someone whose never heard of the Justice League to match their names with their pictures, and they’ll be able to tell you that Batman is the guy dressed like a bat, Hawkman is the guy with the bird hat, Superman wears an S on his chest, Firestorm’s head is on fire, etc. No one can mistake the red running guy for Green Lantern.
Once you get past that, the names Cannon and Saber are just uncomfortably phallic. I’m pretty sure Henry Cannon and Marshall Saber were in the credits for Backdoor Sluts 9.
~Nobody ever did their hair like that.~
GUY GARDNER RESPECTFULLY REQUESTS A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME!
But yeah, “Saber” and “Cannon”? Former rival assassins who buy a beach house and go into business together? Then wind up sharing a jail cell?
“DC Comics: Taking the ‘sub’ out of ‘subtext’ since 198X.”
I remember those two from my fanatic reading of Vigilante back in the 80’s. I had no idea they were a couple. I guess when I read about killer assassins and such sexual prefrence doesn’t come into play. Next thing you’ll tell me is that Midnighter and Apollo are a couple.
Cookie McCool: To site a real world example: Moe Howard.
Not bad. They should show up in an issue of Manhunter.
Ok, so who does their hair like that who was born within the last TWO CENTURIES? And Guy Gardner is not a good example, because that hair makes him look extremely special. I would certainly be more likely to model my bad-ass assassin hair on a Major Stooge (sorry, Curly Joe) than a Green Lantern who should probably wear a helmet for safety purposes.
Saber looks exactly like Gunfire.
ALL Green Lanterns hurt their heads frequently.
It’s part of the job description.
Well, Dkrtzy Rrrr doesn’t, but he, being a math equation, kinda doesn’t have a head to injure.
But…Cannon’s man-vest! The gold, it gives off glare in the night. Shiny ninjas don’t last long.
Clearly owes a lot to the gay assassins Mr. Gun and Mr. Knife from the James Bond movies.
Hmm. Comment earlier got lost. They’re Marv Wolfman creations.
Did they ever have an in-comic kiss?
The James Bond villains were Wint & Kidd, unless they added another pair of gay assassins to Bond’s rogues gallery in the later pre-Craig movies (which I’ve so far managed to avoid watching).
Saber (I guess? The guy on the right, anyway) looks exactly like semi-obscure* Spider-Man villain Solo. I mean, exactly like him. Anyone know who came first?
*Solo’s only real significance is that he appeared in the first McFarlane ASM.
I guess hearts would have been too straightforward a thing to draw around the top of the image – though I’m not convinced that’s not what the inspiration was for the blobs surrounding them.
Red ninjas are bad enough, but a yellow ninja? Come on! Fashion sense is no excuse for something so impractical.
Unless he’s a silver age Green Lantern villain.