Saint of Killers
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| The Saint of Killers | |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics (Vertigo) |
| First appearance | Preacher #1 |
| Created by | Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Unknown |
| Species | Divinity |
| Abilities | divine Colts, immortality, Total Invulnerability, Super Strength |
The Saint of Killers is a fictional character appearing in the Preacher comic book by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon and published by Vertigo. He was also the subject of his own four-issue miniseries, which was later collected in Preacher Vol. 4: Ancient History. According to Ennis, the Saint's look was based on Lee Marvin's, with the speech and mannerisms of Clint Eastwood.
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[edit] History
The Saint of all Killers was at one time a soldier serving in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He was simultaneously respected and feared for being absolutely merciless on the battlefield — his bloodlust verged on that of a berserker frenzy.
After the war, he made his living in the American West by collecting Native scalps and bounty hunting. His life changed when he found a young woman whom he had inadvertently rescued when he killed her Indian captors. As they were far from civilization when they met, the woman pleaded to be taken with him and, in spite of himself, her plea made it through his bitter and hardened exterior, to whatever tiny core of goodness rested within.
They fell in love and soon were married. They had a daughter, and the killer became a farmer.
However, his family fell ill and he left them to fetch a doctor from the nearest town. When he got there, his mission was delayed by a gang of outlaws who were preying on passers-by, killing them and selling their scalps as though they had belonged to Natives. Due to this delay, he found his family had died during his absence. Fueled by hatred and thinking only of vengeance, he tracked the gang of outlaws to the border-town of Ratwater, Texas and began to slaughter them. When he confronted the leader of the outlaws, he killed the innocent hostage the man had taken and damned himself to Hell. Before he could kill the outlaw, he ran out of bullets and was struck in the back of the head with a shovel. The leader then proceeded to impale his chest with the shovel.
Death took him, and, because of the innocent life he had taken, his soul was consigned to perdition. However, his hatred could not be contained and it caused Hell to literally freeze over. The weary Angel of Death, playing poker with the Devil, suggested a solution to this little problem: they could allow the man to return to Earth to seek revenge against the remaining outlaws. In exchange, he would become the Patron Saint of Slaughter and Assassination who would assume the Angel of Death's role of collecting the souls of those who died by violence, with whoever sat on the throne of heaven being the only one he would answer to. Accepting the offer, the man was dubbed the 'Saint of Killers' and took up the Angel's sword, (refashioned into a pair of Walker Colt revolvers).
As the Saint made his way out of Hell, the fires started to reignite. The Devil then made the mistake of slinging an insult at the Saint, whereupon the Saint angrily killed the Devil and returned to the land of the living. He proceeded to slaughter the men who had killed him along with everyone else in Ratwater simply because his hate ran too deep for two murders to satisfy. Afterwards, the Saint went to rest at a specially prepared tomb at Boot Hill but his spirit walked the Earth to gather the souls of those who died violent deaths.
Over a century later, the half-angel/half-demon entity known as 'Genesis' was born and escaped its prison in heaven to earth where it merged with the Preacher Jesse Custer. In order to retrieve Genesis, the Saint was awakened and sent after Custer. Upon reaching him however, Custer used the power granted to him by Genesis, the Word of God, to prevent the Saint from shooting him or his companions. After learning that God had disappeared from heaven, the Saint left to reconsider his role in the grand scheme of things. Eventually deciding that it wasn't God who he answered to but the one who sat on the throne of heaven-and being the throne was vacant-The Saint decided to continue hunting Custer down not because he had been ordered to, but because Custer had scorned him. Finally tracking his quarry to France where Custer was in the midst of rescuing his friend Cassidy from the Grail, The Saint halted in his plans to kill Custer when Herr Starr revealed that Genesis knew the truth regarding the death of the Saint's family whereupon he offered to spare Custer's life in exchange for the information. Later rendevousing with Custer in the deserts of the American Southwest, the Saint learned that the deaths were not accidental; they had been preordained. God had arranged them in order to obtain the services of an efficient killer. Enraged beyond measure, the Saint embarked on his own quest for revenge against the Almighty.
Sometime later, Custer contacted the Saint by digging up the remains of his human body and convinced him to join forces in order to bring justice against God for the crimes he had committed against Earth and Humanity. Custer arranged to die at the Hands of Herr Starr and the Grail, thereby killing Genesis along with him so that God would feel safe to return to his throne in heaven. When he arrived however, he found that the Saint had slaughtered every last Angel in Heaven and was waiting for him. Despite God's attempts to intimidate the Saint with his wrath and then offering to restore his family to life, the Saint gunned him down to his demise. With no one left to kill anymore, the Saint sat upon Heaven's Throne and returned to sleep — presumably forever.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The Saint of Killers possessed a variety of powers.
- He is completely impervious to harm to an extent rarely seen even in comics — bullets bounced off him, a direct hit from a tank didn't affect him, being underneath a collapsing mountain simply meant he had to dig himself out, and being hit in the chest with a nuclear missile caused no damage to him or his clothes. He also felt no pain and shrugged off the whole affair with the words, "Not enough gun." He is also apparently immovable unless he wishes to be moved: At one point an M-1 Abrams tank moving at speed rammed him, and he stopped it with a kick.
- He was an expert marksman, even before being made a saint. Now, however, he is able to draw his guns faster than a man can see.
- His hatred appears to be his greatest power. His hatred was cold enough to temporarily extinguish the fires of Hell and has been the driving force of his existence ever since.
- He has perfect aim — even when men were hanging off his arms the Saint could shoot true and find his mark.
- The Saint has demonstrated a degree of super strength. When hit by Cassidy in a speeding truck the saint did not budge and the truck was flipped. When Jesse Custer tried to put his hand on the Saint's shoulder the Saint of Killers flung him several feet like a rag doll.
- He apparently has the power to enter and leave Heaven at will. It is not known if he could similarly travel to Hell. He also threatened to "Kill his way across half Creation", implying other travel abilities. On the other hand, he had to commandeer a ship to travel from America to France.
[edit] Weapons
The Saint of Killers possesses a pair of Walker Colt revolvers, which were made from the Angel of Death's sword. Because of this, the guns are of divine nature:
- They possess unlimited ammunition, and never need to be reloaded.
- They never jam.
- Any shot fired from these guns will always hit their mark, even piercing modern tank armor to reach the intended target.
- Any wound inflicted is always fatal regardless of circumstance or nature of the victim. Even angels and demons weren't immune to the power of the Saint's guns. Not even both God and the Devil were able to survive against them once the Saint has killed them both. However, the vampire Cassidy "survived" being shot presumably because as a vampire he was technically already dead.
[edit] Other appearances
The Saint made a cameo appearance in issue #8 of Ennis' Hitman series, on which the main characters all retell the times they came closest to death. After the contract killer Ringo Chan dispatches his targets he is joined by an ethereal figure dressed as a cowboy who has come to collect those he has just killed. Protagonist Tommy Monaghan remarks that you would expect death to look like Clint Eastwood (one of the inspirations for the Saint). He has also been spotted on the street just outside of Noonan's Pub, a bar notorious in Gotham City for being the hangout of many contract killers (and one chicken murdering sociopath).
The encounter with Ringo Chen is incorrect, although the Saint of Killers represents the embodiment of death, this 'Death' was distinctly more in line with the aesthetics of a Fu Manchuesque character and not a cowboy. This is why Tommy remarks - I expected him to look like Clint. Ringo replies, perhaps he will for you.
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