IDW Dark is expanding Parker Finn’s Smile horror universe with Any Given Smile, a five-issue comic series set in 1995 American football—where the Smile Entity’s curse collides with sports fandom, debt, and sports betting.
The next chapter of Smile isn’t hitting theaters—it’s coming out swinging on a football field.
IDW Publishing’s horror imprint, IDW Dark, is expanding the franchise with a new comic titled Any Given Smile. The story is set in 1995 during the American Arena League football championship. pitching the Smile premise into a world of stadium pressure. fan obsession. and gambling fallout. Entertainment Weekly shared an exclusive first look. including five variant covers tied to the series’ themes—like a bloody football that appears to be smiling by Jock. a grinning quarterback illustrated by Ashley Witter. a torn trading card by Pablo M. Collar, and a haunted gambling underworld brought to life by Martin Simmonds and Joëlle Jones.
The Smile films that inspired the comic have already proven how far the premise can travel. The first feature—released in 2022 based on a short film—followed in 2024. and the pair earned a combined box office total of over $350 million. Those stories used two different leads—Sosie Bacon’s therapist Rose Cotter and Naomi Scott’s pop star Skye Riley—to spiral into the same horrifying center: a malevolent entity that forces victims into constant hallucinations of people with unnaturally smiling faces. escalating visions. and a final breaking point where someone takes their own life in front of someone else wearing the same awful grin. The curse then spreads to witnesses, creating a seemingly endless chain that traces back to an unknown origin.
In Any Given Smile, that logic finds a new stage: the Sharks’ biggest moment. The comic will depict the run-up to the big AAL championship—a historic occasion for the Sharks in their 20 years of operation. But the team’s hopes rest on a backup quarterback who has emerged as a star when the lights have shone brightest. only to feel pressure mounting from teammates. fans. and the gambling underworld.
Before the game is even played, the community is thrown off balance by a string of mysterious suicides. A sports journalist—pulled in by what they see as possible correlation to the championship and. especially. the cloud of sports gambling—starts digging for answers. Behind the scenes. the Smile Entity is described as actively sowing distrust in the community at a moment when tensions are already high. while the payouts grow massive.
On the creative side, Stephanie Williams pens the five-issue series. The GLAAD Media Award-winning Pablo M. Collar crafted the interior art. Triona Farrell and Ariana Maher provide colors and letters, respectively. Williams previously earned Eisner Award-nominee status. and her involvement anchors the project in a mix of character-driven drama and genre horror—one that mirrors how Parker Finn’s first two films built their terror around trauma and stardom.
Williams explained to Entertainment Weekly that exploring the Smile universe through football ties to both her love of sports and the kinds of drama that naturally gather around the game. She also pointed to the increasing presence of sports betting giants like FanDuel and DraftKings in advertising and partnerships with major sports leagues—framing sports gambling as a force that can shape everything from fandom to pressure. Her pitch. she said. aligned with those elements so closely that the opportunity felt tailor-made for her other fandoms and obsessions.
“Because that universe is often about people who are a little bit broken or just have things going on. football players almost always have some type of drama. some type of backstory that is sometimes a little unsavory. And then also…sports gambling. Very big. Didn’t know that would happen after our pitch, but it just all aligned. So this was the perfect chance for me to get my other fandoms and obsessions into a work.”.
Any Given Smile is available to pre-order now from local comic stores. For anyone waiting to see where Parker Finn’s Smile could go next on screen. this comic chapter offers an immediate answer on paper—complete with a cursed grin. rising stakes. and a game-day countdown that feels anything but normal.
(Release date details included in source materials: September 23, 2022; runtime details also noted as 115 minutes; director and writer credits for Smile listed as Parker Finn; producers listed as Isaac Klausner, Marty Bowen, Robert Salerno, Wyck Godfrey.)
Smile comic IDW Dark Any Given Smile Parker Finn horror comics sports horror American Arena League Sharks FanDuel DraftKings Stephanie Williams Pablo M. Collar Triona Farrell Ariana Maher Jock Ashley Witter Martin Simmonds Joëlle Jones
So it’s like Smile but with football? That’s honestly kind of scary 😂
I didn’t even know there was an arena league championship in 1995, but whatever. The fact it’s tied to sports betting makes it worse. I’m surprised they didn’t just make it a movie tho, comics feel like a letdown.
Wait, the Smile entity forces people into hallucinations of smiling faces… but in football times?? So like the whole stadium’s cursed and everyone thinks the refs are smiling? That sounds made up but also I can’t stop reading. Also didn’t Naomi Scott play some kind of doctor in it? my brain is mixing up the leads.
They really said “gridiron horror” huh. Variant covers with a smiling bloody football?? That’s either the coolest thing ever or I’m never going near a comic shop again. Betting fallout too like… that’s way too real. I heard the box office was 350 million so I guess it had to become everything. Are they gonna connect the trading card thing to the origin story or is it just cover art?