Image Comics reviews 7/29/26 – Geiger 24, Ghost Pepper 13

Ghost Pepper 13

The last few issues of Ghost Pepper have been largely confusing. While it’s admirable that writer/artist/letterer Ludo Lullabi wanted to try and do something different that probably shouldn’t have come at the expense of what had been working so well before.

Ironically, it’s like a chef who’d been cooking up some amazing dishes and decided to start tinkering with the recipe and the end result is a meal that isn’t nearly as tasty.

The heart of the issue is Lullabi has sidelined the main character, Ash, and most of his supporting cast for characters who haven’t been developed to any degree. It’s also not helping that many of the familiar characters have largely been standing and watching chaotic scenes play out around them while Lullabi hasn’t fully conveyed the threat or explained what’s happening.

Tonally, the series feels so different from the fun-loving title about a mobile chef who picks up a surly customer with a secret and his robot sidekick as they go on wacky adventures. Now Ghost Pepper has become far too dark and overly serious yet it’s not clear what impact these events will actually have on the characters and their planet.

Lullabi’s art is solid though it’s hard to fully take in everything that’s playing out. Some of that is due to characters that are largely cast in shadows and the other is making sense of the scale and trying to figure out what’s going on.

There are too many unknowns happening in Ghost Pepper right now for a series that was laid back and fun as any title on the stands just a few months ago. Hopefully, Lullabi can turn the tide and get the series back on track, so Ghost Pepper doesn’t flame out in its home stretch.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Photo Credit: Image Comics