When I was putting my bike together, I did some reading at Sheldon Brown's site, and it said something like v-brakes were the only reasonable alternative to cantis, because they are just another type of canti. Not in so many words, obviously, but I took it to mean the v-brakes are an evolution to cantis, though different. 🤔😉
I also started using trekking bars then, partly to avoid the lever issues. Normal MTB levers for v-brakes fit those trekking bars fine, no travel agent required. 😎