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NYCC 2026: Horror Takes Over with IDW Goes Dark

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Logo design featuring the text 'IDW Goes Dark' with a stylized font and graphic elements.

New York Comic Con week has arrived! IDW Publishing will be at the show with can’t-miss signings and exclusives at booth #4551, plus a panel that’ll have the entire industry talking (Friday morning, 11:15am in room 406.2). To celebrate the big show, IDW has at least one major announcement planned for every single weekday. While they can’t spoil any secrets (yet), they have teased there will be big news for fans of Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, horror, and a major reveal they cannot wait to declassify during the panel.

To kick off the week-long celebration, IDW’s infecting its entire publishing line with the ambitious initiative IDW Goes Dark. The best-selling horror print is taking over with a truly sinister selection of new horror comics throughout all of 2027, featuring Hello Kitty, Sonic the Hedgehog, Godzilla, Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and new original nightmares from the imprint.

The terrifying takeover with IDW Goes Dark will also feature A Quiet Place: Rising Tides, The Twilight Zone, Any Given Smile, Event Horizon: Pandemonium, as well as the upcoming already-announced originals Fatal Fest and Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: The Summer and the Fall. Fans at NYCC, don’t miss the exclusive ashcans for Fatal Fest #1 and You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive #1 at the IDW booth before they sell out.

More details lurk in the shadows for now, but IDW has teased there will be a spine-tingling surprise for horror fans at the IDW panel this Friday

Any Given Smile #1 Delivers Creepy Just in time for Football and Spooky Season

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Any Given Smile #1

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… Any Given Smile #1 mixes the horror franchise with “Sunday’s game” bringing even more horror to football.

I’ve never seen any of the Smile movies or read the previous comic the spun off from it. So coming into Any Given Smile #1, I was a blank slate as far as knowledge and expectations. And after reading the first issue, I want to find out more. Written by Stephanie Williams, the comic mixes horror and football as the issue builds towards the big game.

The debut issue is an interesting one, teasing out what’s going on for new readers while fans of the franchise likely have a better idea of what’s going on. Individuals dealing with sports betting are all dying and all have had a contorted smile on their face. Like a virus spread around, the comic feels like it could deliver solid commentary on the proliferation of online sports betting and the damage it causes to far too many individuals.

While the original film focuses on horror through trauma, this series feels like a spin on that, the horror of virality and addiction. Everyone who dies, or is likely to die, feeds off of the addiction of gambling whether they themselves caught in it or serving others who do. It’s an interesting metaphor through horror, something the genre can excel in.

The art by Pablo Collar creates an unease throughout the issue. With color by Triona Farrell and lettering by Ariana Maher, the comic’s visuals and lettering build the general vibe of the comic with visuals teasing the madness going on. This isn’t horror with gore and violence as the draw, instead it’s visuals you can’t trust of formless beings haunting their prey. It’s a comic that builds its tension throughout leaving readers to guess what’s going on and what images they can trust. The lettering by Maher especially stands out not only emphasizing the haunting sounds individuals hear but also very cool visuals with it as well with dialogue featuring scratches out at points.

Any Given Smile #1 is a solid debut that has me intrigued and wanting to learn more, and see and read, what has previously come out. It’s a horror story that feels like it has something to say, a commentary on the current tech push of online gambling and all of the ills that it can lead to. Overall, one that’s well worth checking out if you want horror with some depth to it.

Story: Stephanie Williams Art: Pablo Collar
Color: Triona Farrell Letters: Ariana Maher
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

Preview: Any Given Smile #1

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Any Given Smile #1

(W) Stephanie Williams (A) Pablo M. Collar

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…

Based on the critically acclaimed Smile film franchise, writer Stephanie Williams (Nubia, Roots of Madness) and GLAAD Media Award–winning artist Pablo Collar (Avengers Academy) are sure to run fear across the goal line. Time to place your bets. Kickoff approaches for a Sunday ritual that will have you ready to win… or die smiling.

Cover of the comic book 'Any Given Smile', featuring a smiling football player in a helmet holding a football, with a dramatic sunset backdrop.
Cover art for 'Any Given Smile' comic, featuring a football with a bloody handprint on it and the title in bold red letters.
An illustration of a football player in a light blue uniform and helmet, holding a football with a dramatic, large red and black claw-like graphic overlay across the image. The background features a colorful, blurred pattern, and the name 'DUPREE' is displayed at the bottom.
Cover of the comic book 'Any Given Smile', featuring a colorful and abstract illustration of a man in a tuxedo at a gambling table, surrounded by three women. The man has a sinister grin, while the women are holding drinks and looking towards him.
Close-up of a person’s hands holding a large stack of poker chips, surrounded by playing cards featuring aces and other designs on a green felt surface.
Cover of the comic book 'Any Given Smile' featuring the title in bold, stylized letters, a football play diagram, and a clipboard with the team roster.
A comic book panel depicting a scene in St. Augustine, Florida, in January 1945. The first panel shows a street view with cars and palm trees, along with a storefront. The second panel features two characters, one in a suit and the other casually dressed, engaged in conversation. The third panel shows an intense expression on a character's face, indicating distress or concern. The fourth panel reveals a menacing figure with glowing eyes, suggesting a supernatural or threatening presence. The final panel portrays a character trapped in a dark sphere, depicting tension and urgency.

Smile and A Quiet Place Expand their Terrifying Worlds With IDW Dark

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From the big screen into the pages of comics, IDW Dark presents spine-chilling new chapters inspired by the hit Paramount Pictures horror franchises Smile and A Quiet Place.

Scaring comic shops this September is Any Given Smile, a frightening five-issue story crafted by Eisner Award-nominated writer Stephanie Williams, GLAAD Media Award-winning artist Pablo Collar, and featuring colors by Triona Farrell and letters by Ariana Maher.  

The year is 1995 and 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 from 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 to 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…

Shhhhh. Don’t make a sound this November when A Quiet Place: Rising Tides crawls into comic shops. The tense and captivating five-issue thriller is created by the acclaimed duo of writer Declan Shalvey and artist Luke Sparrow, featuring colorist Colin Craker and letterer Jodie Troutman.

When a young woman named Grace tracked down her estranged father to a run-down houseboat in the Florida Keys, she expected disappointment, resentment, maybe even closure. Instead, the entire world ended.

Now stranded in the aftermath of the invasion that shattered civilization, she and her sick, aging father cling to survival on the open water – the only space safe from the creatures who attack at the sound of a single breath. But his oxygen is running low, supplies are disappearing quickly, and the deadly predators circling the shoreline are learning fast. And on the horizon, a hurricane is coming.

A QUIET PLACE RISING TIDES