The Divine Comedy, coyotes, lawyers and katanas

A new week brings a fresh instalment of Decoder, the Il Foglio column edited by Gianluca De Angelis: a guide to navigating the vast world of pop culture, in an ever-expanding universe characterised by constant growth and cross-pollination, where one sometimes risks missing out on a few gems. It serves as a compass, helping readers discover new entry points that may ignite a passion or, perhaps, introduce them for the first time to comics, films, TV series, games and collectable cards, bringing them into contact with subjects they may only have heard of. This week, therefore, we present three reference points to guide you through this multiverse of diverse forms of expression that today says so much about our world.

In the realm of comics, this week we do not recommend a standard comic but a classic work illustrated by a comic artist himself: we are referring to the ‘Inferno’ from the ‘Divine Comedy’, illustrated by the great comic artist Miguel Angel Martin and published in Italy by NPE. This illustrated edition of immense value is entrusted to the vision of a comic artist who has always immersed himself in the realm of visionary sequential art—at times unsettling—with a style that is both cartoonish and terrifying, yet which blends perfectly with Dante’s work. This allows readers to approach it in a new light, viewing it anew from a different perspective.

In the world of film and television, the talk is of the brilliant, unmissable film “Coyote vs. Acme”, distributed in Italian cinemas by Lucky Red. A film that was in danger of never seeing the light of day because, although completed, it was initially shelved by Warner Bros., until public outcry led to its acquisition by a new distributor. The film’s plot is equally brilliant, in a mixed-media production (combining live action and animation) in which the famous Looney Tunes coyote brings a legal case against the fearsome Acme corporation, guilty of having supplied him with faulty gadgets for decades, which have prevented him from catching the elusive Beep Beep.

Finally, the gaming news concerns the grand return, after more than twenty years, of a legendary series with "Onimusha: Way of the Sword", produced by Capcom: a Japanese action-adventure game that blends a fresh fantasy world of samurai and castles with demons and mythological creatures, rewriting history with truly fascinating supernatural elements. A comeback that goes beyond mere nostalgia, proving how to retain existing audiences whilst attracting new ones, striking a balance between what to keep and what to update. Undoubtedly one of the most eagerly anticipated titles of 2026 in the gaming world.

Three features to help you find your way through the world of entertainment and pop culture, a world shaped by imagination, nostalgia and collective desires. Decoder is here to try and decode the present, including through its new popular myths, piecing together – week after week, feature after feature – 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 features.