The original Doctor Thirteen did.
This panel gives me hope for this series.
And then this panel. Perhaps (and, of course, most likely) I'm painting it with my own bias and beliefs. But Judas says here that after he died, he did not deliver his "act of contrition." Perhaps he simply means he wasn't given the chance to deliver it to the steps of heaven because he wasn't allowed to completely die. But I prefer to read this another way. Perhaps he realized, when he looked upon the face of God, the truth of what had just happened and refused to feel guilty anymore. He takes back his act of contrition when he realizes he was used by Jesus and God to fulfill the events that needed to happen for Jesus's word to spread across the globe. And in his sudden refusal to feel bad about killing Jesus, God becomes exceedingly wrathful. Look at God's face in this panel. Doesn't he look angry? And that anger at Judas's refusal to be sorry is why he punished The Phantom Stranger to walk the Earth for all time. God wants The Phantom Stranger to repent not of the act of killing Christ but the act of not being sorry for it.
That's what I choose to believe this story is about. This also makes The Phantom Stranger a much more interesting and sympathetic character. It sets up a great story underneath the story of The Stranger doing The Font in the Sky's will where The Stranger is seeking a way to rebel and pervert his mission. The story then becomes not about The Phantom Stranger's redemption but his revenge and escape from the bonds of unjust punishment.
But getting back to the more mundane comic book action part of his comic book, The Haunted Highwayman becomes frustrated that his burning hangman's noose has no effect on The Phantom Stranger. He tries to choke The Phantom Stranger but is burned by The Stranger's cloak which is full of Jesus dander. Most evil is, of course, extremely allergic to Jesus.
"It's seersucker! Because, um, you know? It seers suckers? No? Fine, it's aba, okay? Jesus Christ, lighten up, Mr. Highwayman."
The Phantom Stranger is released from the noose as the Highwayman flees. And just in time, as The Stranger feels himself about to lose consciousness. I can't imagine he could have been killed so easily since The Font in the Sky probably isn't going to let him out of his job so easily. As The Stranger tries to catch his breath, he begins to hallucinate.
I guess The Font in the Sky can also manifest as a Scottish Terrier doing a Shrek impersonation.
Anyway, this young Thirteen says the original Terrence Thirteen eventually encountered the vengeful spirit of The Haunted Highwayman and defeated it. Come now! More on that story! That's not the meat of the story now, is it? The real meat of that story is that the original Dr. Thirteen didn't believe in the paranormal and spent his life debunking it. So what happened when he actually encountered and defeated an actual ghost? Or demon? Or unholy man on horseback, anyway? It sounds like one of those stories that some hack writer came up with years later that just fucking ruins everything about this character. Sort of like when Scooby Doo began dealing with real ghosts. That just fucked up the whole point of the show! The show was about logic triumphing over superstition and kids sorting through the bullshit and nonsense showered on them every day by adults. So if Dr. Thirteen finally did meet a paranormal creature, that means his entire life up to that point was based merely on luck that each of his cases didn't happen to be evil or demonic or undead or godly or supernatural! So the real story is: How did the fucking Doctor react to this knowledge that his entire life was based on his logical and rational yet seemingly incorrect assumptions?
The Phantom Stranger realizes this is a matter between Terrence Thirteen's descendants and The Haunted Highwayman and therefore none of his business. Like the supreme douchebag he is, The Phantom Stranger tells Thirteen to deal with it himself. He has more important matters to attend to. But I'm pretty sure The Haunted Highwayman isn't going to leave The Phantom Stranger alone. If he held a grudge so badly against one man that he came back to life as a flaming demon (and got his horse to come back as well!) so that he could kill every single member of that man's bloodline, he isn't going to let The Phantom Stranger off the hook when he burned him with his cloak full of Jesus germs.
Later, The Phantom Stranger as Phil goes to a party with his wife so he can enjoy some human drama for a change. Philip's neighbor Henry is going to Thailand for six months to build condos and is upset at having to leave his family for so long. The conversation they have is a nice scene that makes me like The Phantom Stranger a little bit more while despising his neighbor for his wretched normality.
Henry's problem and Philip's solution.
The Stranger's response, on the other hand, is perfect. If you don't want to do something, don't fucking do it.
Henry's argument against going and Philip's response.
Philip's response, once again, I agree with completely. People love to put up pretend barriers which force them into doing things they'd rather not do. But this is your life. It is not your employer's life. It is not your debt's life. It is not your parents' life. It is not society's life. It's yours. This doesn't mean there won't be obstacles in the way of the goals you want to achieve. Making a choice doesn't mean it will work out for you. Happiness and success aren't guaranteed. And many times there may be real and very serious dangers and impediments to the life you want to live. Making those choices that put your life in danger take even more strength than most people have (including me, probably! I'm no fucking Gandhi!). But this conversation is not anywhere close to that. This is pretending that other things are keeping Henry from making the choices to try and live for the life he desires and it's simply a sad delusion.
Henry's real motivation and why the entire conversation was just masturbatory bullshit anyway.
My problem with Henry's attitude here doesn't mean I have a problem with this scene! I think this is a great moment (as you can probably tell by my going on at length about it) since The Phantom Stranger understands guilt. He gets guilt. And this scene isn't about Henry's problem anyway. It's all metaphor for The Stranger's past. The Stranger probably just wants to say, "Henry, I understand how guilty you feel leaving your family for six months to earn six figures. I killed Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Our problems are nearly identical. You blame your work for forcing you to go. I blame this guy Pontius and Rome and the Pharisees for putting me in the position they put me in. I get it, man. I truly do." And so Phil's answers to Henry's problems are also things he might have said to himself back in Gethsemane.
Philip's good time and self-reflection are interrupted by a call from Terrence Thirteen. The Phantom Stranger packs it in and heads off to help Thirteen. Actually, he heads off to yell at Thirteen face to face but he obviously knows if he's there in person that he's going to have to end up saving Thirteen. It feels a little bit like saving face. "I didn't really want to be forced to help you but since I'm here yelling at you as the big flaming asshole arrives, I guess I can save your life."
But even now, The Phantom Stranger refuses to take part. Since it is a family matter, The Stranger decides that family should deal with it (he got this insight from Henry saying that they were practically family! It's like an episode of House!).
Does this mean Dr. Thirteen doesn't believe in himself? Shouldn't he disappear in a puff of logic?
Sorry! I made the assumption this was all paranormal! Obviously there is a rational and scientific answer behind it all! If only I were as smart as Mister Terrific so I could figure it out.
The Phantom Stranger #3 Rating: +2 Ranking. I'm not a fan of the art although the style seems to fit this comic book, so I can live with it. But the story, so far, is well-crafted and doesn't seem to be using the Judas identity as simply a hook. DiDio is weaving it into the motivations of the Stranger and the fabric of the story, and that's really nice to see. I'm looking forward to more of this even though I know it can all go way off track very, very quickly!
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