Image Comics 11/19/25 – GI Joe 14, Ghost Pepper 5

Ghost Pepper 5

Ludo Lullabi whips up more fun in the fifth installment of Ghost Pepper.

Less of a breakneck pace sci-fi adventure, Ghost Pepper 5 is more of a laid-back installment with some slow burn advancements of some established subplots as well as a glimpse of what led to the state of this world.

Ash is reluctantly helping Loloi take her food truck back to her village of Prospektor so her Papy can repair the damage done by the fight between Ash and Toggle. The Prospektor villagers treat Loloi like a local hero since she’s helping to raise money thanks to her crop of ghost peppers. Mayor Nix is looking to collect on the debt she owes, but her culinary talents are keeping him at bay since she is making a profit with her traveling food truck.

Naturally, seeing the village also falling for the lies Bataar told the world irritates Ash leading to the first flashback from his perspective of the major incident.

Bataar is terrified at the thought of Ash coming for him and his mood doesn’t improve when his old ally, Mingi arrives to taunt him over his inevitable fate. Lullabi is parceling out the larger story details uniting these characters in small nuggets, but it’s an intriguing mystery so far. Even more so now that another of Bataar and Mingi’s allies, Vex, is chasing down Ash for her own purpose.

Lullabi’s artwork is incredibly dynamic making even basic panels look lively and full of energy. Ghost Pepper has the style of an anime so the panels appear like animated scenes just frozen via a screen shot. The characters have so much personality and Lullabi truly gives the book an extra dash of visual flavor with his artwork and lettering.

Adriano Lucas’ color work is just as vital a part of the presentation this issue. Lucas’ overall contribution to the series can’t be understated as the color is the one aspect Lullabi doesn’t do on his own. Lucas has a great sense of how to properly “light” a panel, how to play up the shadows and show off power effects.

This issue didn’t tackle much in terms of advancing the story, but the strong character work made for an easy read and easier recommendation. With the conclusion of this first arc, it’s an ideal point for new readers to check out what they’ve been missing so far.

Rating: 9 out of 10