Culture
The Atlas of Pop Culture •
Mystical West, cursed islands and pirates
Three weekly recommendations to explore comics, audiovisual media and games, helping you find your way around the vast universe of pop culture and the stories that are shaping the contemporary imagination. Today: the graphic novel "Belmiele", the TV series "Widow’s Bay" and the video game "Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced"
In the vast world of pop culture, every week there is a whole universe in which to lose oneself amongst dozens of comics, films, TV series, anime, collectible cards, video games, board games and role-playing games. So here is a new weekly instalment of DECODER, the column in "Il Foglio" hosted by Gianluca De Angelis, designed as a guide to help you find your way around this enormous and ever-expanding world. Every week, three recommendations, three gateways, three points of reference to help point you in the right direction through this multiverse of diverse languages that now make up so much of our world.
For the world of comics, this week we recommend ‘Belmiele’, a work by comic artist Simone Pace and published in Italy by Edizioni BD, which transports readers to a world perpetually at war with an exquisitely Western flavour, whilst not neglecting a dash of mysticism and magic. A comic that stands out above all for its excellent world-building and the lore of a richly layered world that really makes you want to find out more. A must-read for anyone seeking great legends, adventures and truly well-designed worlds.
In the world of film and television, however, the focus is on ‘Widow’s Bay’, a horror-comedy series available on Apple TV+ that recounts the trials and tribulations of a mayor who wants to attract new tourists to an island… which, however, is cursed. A brilliantly written series that pays homage to horror cinema, treading a very fine line between black humour and typical horror clichés, without ever veering too far in either direction. One of the most interesting series of the year, with a second series on the way (as it has already been renewed).
Finally, our recommendation from the world of gaming is “Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced”, a Ubisoft video game available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC, which is more than just a simple remaster: it is, in fact, a rebuilt, modernised version packed with new features of one of the most beloved instalments in the series, combining the stealth and iconic assassinations of the Assassin’s Creed universe with the flavour of a top-class pirate adventure.
If pop culture is no longer merely entertainment but a veritable world made up of imaginations, nostalgia and collective desires, DECODER is here, therefore, precisely to try to decode the present through its new popular myths. Week after week, episode after episode, we are piecing together a vast map that charts, more than ever before, the infinite nuances and directions of our present. See you next week for another trio of unmissable titles.