Paramount Pictures and director Parker Finn struck gold with Smile several years back, leading to a very successful sequel in the form of Smile 2. Whether or not Smile 3 ever happens remains to be seen, but the horror franchise continues to expand thanks to the folks at IDW Publishing. To that end, the company is releasing a new prequel series this fall entitled Any Given Smile, and Fango has an exclusive look at the comic.
Today, we’ve got a bunch of exclusive covers from the forthcoming series, as well as the first six pages of the Any Given Smile #1 to share. The new series hails from writer Stephanie Williams and artist Pablo M. Collar. Playing on the old adage “any given Sunday,” the series takes place in the ‘90s in the world of American Arena League football. The synopsis for the series reads as follows:
“January 1995. All eyes are on the American Arena League football championship game in St. Augustine, Florida. The Sharks gear up for the most significant event in the AAL’s 20-year history, and Maximillian Dupree—their sudden-star backup quarterback—is feeling the pressure from his teammates, his fans, and his debts to the city’s gambling underworld. A string of suicides hits the community hard, drawing a desperate sports journalist to examine their connection to the big game. No one can trust anything they see as a mind-bending entity and its frightful visions threaten their payouts, their sanity, and their lives…”
This comes on the heels of IDW’s previous prequel, Smile: For the Camera, which was set in the modeling world in a pre social media age. Football is a dangerous game and it’s about to get a whole lot more dangerous for these poor players who are going to encounter an evil they can’t begin to comprehend.
“I’ve been obsessed with the Smile universe since the first film, and I absolutely loved what Hannah Rose May, Miriana Puglia, Dearbhla Kelly, and Brian Kolek did in Smile: For The Camera, the first comic book addition to the universe,” Williams said. “So of course I’m super excited to unleash the Entity in the world of sports, specifically American Football. Our story revolves around a backup quarterback who suddenly finds himself playing in the biggest game of the year and his career. It’s an athlete’s dream turned into a nightmare. Pablo Collar’s art, along with the brilliant coloring by Triona Farrell and Ariana Maher’s letters, is going to haunt people, and I can’t wait. It’s the perfect comic for both football season and spooky season, the best of both worlds.”
This book is part of the IDW Dark imprint, which has been expanding the scope of many different horror franchises in comic book form in recent years. Pre-orders for the first issue are due on August 27 before the book hits shelves next month. In addition to the above preview and cover art, we’ve got quite a few additional alternate covers for the series for you to check out below.
Any Given Smile #1 hits shelves on September 23.
