Until I am called again, I have no choice but to watch and wait, apart from everyone, being nothing more than... a stranger. 
The Phantom Stranger (Volume 4) #0 is an issue of the series The Phantom Stranger (Volume 4) with a cover date of November, 2012. It was published on September 5, 2012.
Synopsis for "A Stranger Among Us"
After betraying his best friend, he had tried to kill himself. Rather than the Heaven or Hell he expected, he had found himself in a strange chamber, faced with the Council of Wizards. Though he felt he deserved his fate, he begged forgiveness, not knowing how dire his punishment would be.
There were two others alongside him, and the wizards called them all the Trinity of Sin; the world's most egregious sinners. The wizards gave his punishment first, charging him with avarice, and forever branding the thirty pieces of silver that he had earned into his skin - though he knew that greed was not his greatest crime. It was the betrayal.
He woke in the field of blood, alive. This place was significant to the crime he committed. As he called out with confusion at his apparent resurrection, a voice boomed down, urging him to put on the robe that lay nearby, and complete his punishment. When he put on the robe, he realized that it was the robe of his betrayed friend, and it held a transformative power. From the moment he put it on, he would forever be a Phantom Stranger.
For years he wandered, waiting for his chance to redeem himself. It was centuries before he heard the voice again. When he did, it directed him to find a man named Jim Corrigan.
Corrigan was a police detective in Gotham City whose fiancée Gwen Sterling had disappeared. He was certain she was taken by the mob boss McLauren, who he had been chasing for some time. Captain Hopkins would have none of it, warning that Corrigan's emotions and hot headedness were a liability. Angrily, Corrigan gave up his badge to seek justice on his own.
The Stranger came upon Corrigan trying to beat Gwen's location out of one of McLauren's thugs. He intervened, promising that he could help the man find his fiancée. Corrigan was slow to trust, but followed the stranger to an abandoned warehouse.
Unexpectedly, the darkened warehouse was lit up by the gunfire of McLauren's men, shooting Corrigan dead. The Stranger reacted with surprise and horror. This was not how it was supposed to happen. He saw Corrigan's vengeful spirit rise up from his body, blaming him for causing his death. However, the voice redirected the spirit to other tasks.
Thinking he had failed, the Stranger despaired, until one of the silver pieces around his neck fell to the ground. He realized that with each act he did in the service of the voice, he would be one step closer to redemption. Until the voice came again, he would have to wander, and remain nothing more than a stranger.
Appearing in "A Stranger Among Us"
Featured Characters:
- Phantom Stranger (Judas Iscariot) (Flashback and main story) (Also as a spirit) (Origin)
Supporting Characters:
- God/The Voice (Flashback only)
- James "Jim" Corrigan (First appearance; dies) (Resurrected) (Bound to The Spectre)
- The Spectre (First appearance) (Bound to Jim Corrigan)
Antagonists:
- The Circle of Eternity
- The Apache (Unnamed)
- The Wizard Shazam
- The Guards of the Rock of Eternity (First appearance; unnamed)
- Mr. McLauren (Single appearance) (Unnamed)
Other Characters:
- Bennie (Gotham hustler) (Single appearance)
- Gotham City Police Department
- Captain Hopkins (First appearance)
- Gwendolyn Sterling (First appearance) (Deceased) (In a vision)
- The Trinity of Sin (Origin)
- Pandora (As a spirit) (Flashback only)
- The Question (As a spirit) (Flashback only)
- Jesus (Mentioned only)
- McLauren's brother (Unnamed) (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Prime Earth
- 33
- Palestine
- Jerusalem (Flashback only)
- Field of Blood (First appearance) (Flashback only)
- Jerusalem (Flashback only)
- Palestine
- 2012
- United States of America
- New Jersey
- Florida (Mentioned only)
- United States of America
- 33
- Rock of Eternity (Flashback only)
- "The Afterlife" (Unnamed)
- Hell (Mentioned only)
Items:
- Cloak of Phantom Stranger (Flashback and main story) (Origin)
- Staff of Living Lightning
- Thirty Pieces of Silver (Flashback and main story)
Events:
- Betrayal of Judas (Mentioned only)
Concepts:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger: A Stranger Among Us.
See Also