Writer: Stephanie Williams
Artist: Pablo Collar
Colors: Triona Farrell
Letters: Ariana Maher
Cover: Ashley Witter
Publisher: IDW
IDW Dark just became a little more sinister with it’s latest entry, Any Given Smile. A story that takes us into the world of gambling and football that seems to be the perfect place for the Entity to stalk new victims and spread it’s terror one smile at a time.
The creative team sets this story a little over 30 years before the events of the first movie, Smile. Not only making this a comfortable entry for anyone new to the series but it allows the team not to be tethered to already established characters and deliver something fresh. Which is exactly what they do in a solid first issue that executes almost perfectly. Series writer, Stephanie Williams wastes NO time in throwing us into the mess of these people’s lives and after the first death she makes you feel as if time is running out with each page turn. She introduces us to several characters being stalked by the Entity but Tommy is our main focus for now. He’s attempting to find out why individuals who died in his local sportsbetting circuit were all found with a distorted and perverse smile while also seeing horrible images himself. He feels the weight and fear of the unknown on his back and he knows he’s running out of time. It’s a race that Williams lays out so well with great world building and pacing from the first to the last page that demands you go ahead and get ready to pick up the next issue to see what’s next!
Comics that are set in the horror genre don’t have the benefit of a haunting soundtrack and audio cues to aid in setting the mood for jump scares and the terror you’re about to see. So it’s up the the artists to enhance this story and immerse you in the world you’re reading and let me say that Pablo Collar and Triona Farrell do just that. Collar nails the visual beats and even makes the bright, colorful moments in which you would normally feel safe feel foreboding because day or night, the Entity is coming for you. Farrell’s skill with the mood shifting colors just adds more weight to each panel and I never thought pink would be a color I associate with terror, but here we are. There’s not a bad panel in the book but several stand out with one being Shark’s Quarterback, Max Dupree and Tommy’s big moment, a disfigured drawing by Tommy’s daughter, and when the Entity shows up in a pool of blood. Each of these hit for different reasons and each image just stays with you. Now that I think about it, that may not be a good thing considering how the Entity tortures its victims.
As I stated earlier, this is a great first issue that kills (no pun intended) with every page turn. I also love the play on the movie title, “Any Given Sunday” which is one of my favorite movies about football. So when I saw the team name it put a smile (again, no pun intended) on my face! Any Given Smile #1 is worth a look if you’re a fan of the movie, Smile. And even if you’re new to all of this and just want to immerse yourself with some solid horror comics then this is definitely an issue to pick up when you’re at your local comic shop! Oh, and if you’re a comic collector that loves variant covers then you should check out the ones for this issue because there’s not a bad one in the bunch.
Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
