I reviewed the first issue of Crucified last month and it intrigued me enough that I added it to my pull list. To Recap, after public speaker, "The Christ" single-handedly stops a riot in Compton, he angers business interests that secretly fund the conflict. In response, the powerful interests hire an assassin to take him out. It's a simple premise but it works.

This issue puts the focus on a few of the individuals that Christ has brought into his circle. Collectively they are called "The Twelve" in reference to the biblical disciples. All of them have done time for some of the most heinous crimes imaginable, but have been redeemed and meet daily to spread Christ's message.

A couple of members of The Twelve aren't being Christ-like and are using their connections to the messiah to secure a payday for his first television interview. One member solicits sex for access while another uses extortion tactics for similar gains.

In addition, we also pick up with our assassin as he links up with a sex-worker friend to screw and discuss past conquests.

Christ only shows up in 2 panels in this comic. He's not really the protagonist for the series and plays the role of prime-mover. He's the reason all other events of the series takes place. This is a little weird but is offset by the fact that all of the supporting characters depicted in the comic are interesting.

The art is solid and I did notice improvements to the linework from issues #1 to #2. There are actual backgrounds in this comic which was a big plus for me. The color palette also offers more variety this time around. The panels still feel sterile and a bit too clean but at least it's not quite as bland to read.

Crucified #2 is another good issue. I'm gonna stick with the series to see how the story goes. The book reads more like a screenplay than a comic but has enough going for it that it still works monthly. It doesn't feel paced for a trade. There is story progression here. We're still in the setup phase of the story but I expect the plot to really pick up going forward.
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