There is no debate that the 2020s is an incredible decade for horror. As we just saw with the success of Oblivion and Backrooms, there is a healthy appetite for horror in entertainment but those aren’t the only game-changing horror movies to arrive in the past ten years. Back in 2022, Parker Finn’s Smile hit theaters telling the story of a therapist who witnesses a patient’s suicide and soon starts having disturbing visions suggesting something darkly supernatural is going on. The film was followed with a sequel, Smile 2, in 2024, and a third film is in development, but fans won’t have to wait too long to go back into Smile’s disturbing world. Another new Smile story is on the way—and this one is going to the world of sports.
Arriving in comic ships this September, Any Given Smile is the latest story from the Smile universe. Published by IDW Dark, the five-issue series takes us to events prior to the first Smile movie, going back to 1995 where all eyes are on the American Arena League football championship game. The Sharks gear up for the most significant event in the AAL’s 20-year history, and their sudden-star backup quarterback is feeling the pressure form his teammates, his fans, and his debts to the city’s gambling underworld. A string of suicides hits the community hard, drawing a suspicious sports journalist deeper into that world to examine their connection the big game. No one can trust anything or anyone as a mind-bending and mysterious Smile Entity and its horrifying visions threaten their payouts, their sanity, and their lives. The series is written by Stephanie Williams with art by Pablo Collar, colors by Triona Farrell, and letters by Ariana Maher.
Any Given Smile Is IDW’s Latest Smile Entry And Helps Flesh Out the World Ahead of a Third Film
While the third Smile movie is in the works, the franchise is expanding in comics and that’s a good thing. Prior to Any Given Smile, IDW Dark released another Smile comic earlier this year, the prequel Smile For the Camera. That series took the terrifying Smile Entity to New York Fashion Week in 2005, giving a glimpse at the horrifying supernatural terror before the events of the first film as well as expanding its overall story. This new comic will go back even further and take on a very different environment—sports and athletes instead of modelling and fashion. It’s this sort of bit-by-bit expansion of the universe and its lore that not only gives fans of the films something to enjoy while awaiting new movies, but helps enhance the overall storytelling, potentially making things even scarier by the time they get to a movie theater.
And a new Smile comic isn’t the only horror world IDW Dark is delving back into this fall. A Quiet Place is also getting another release. IDW previously released A Quite Place: Storm Warning that took readers into the events of A Quiet Place, just in a small island town in the Midwest, Pearl, Iowa. Now, we’re headed to the Florida Keys in A Quiet Place: Rising Tides where a young woman named Grace tracks down her estranged father, but instead of finding the closure she was looking for, she finds the end of the world, stranded with her sick father in a houseboat on open water—and with supplies dwindling, the predators are all along the shoreline and even worse, a hurricane is coming. Like Any Given Smile, the new A Quiet Place comic will serve to expand an already beloved horror environment and offer a bit of depth and nuance to things. Both comics—along with the previous entries—feel like they will be solid supplemental reading for fans of either franchise and the timing couldn’t be more perfect: September is fall and that means, spooky season will be near.
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