Ripped From The Headlines, Rodney Barnes & Elia Bonetti’s CROWNSVILLE #1 Delivers An Unforgettable Ghost Story Full of Terror and Trauma
The CROWNSVILLE Trailer Provides Behind-the-Scenes Insight Into the Supernatural True Crime Thriller with a Haunted History
Oni Press, the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher of groundbreaking comics and graphic novels since 1997, is publishing one of the most anticipated horror comics of the year, beginning with CROWNSVILLE #1 by Peabody Award-winning screenwriter and master storyteller Rodney Barnes (Killadelphia) and breakout star artist Elia Bonetti (Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy). This frightening and unforgettable five-issue comic book series is inspired by actual events and the terrible legacy of Maryland’s Crownsville Hospital. For decades, the notorious (and now defunct) Maryland psychiatric hospital traumatized the Black communities of Jim Crow-era Annapolis. For writer Rodney Barnes, the hospital’s awful history is intertwined with his own family legacy; his grandmother worked at the hospital as a nurse and a few family members were patients there.
“The Crownsville Hospital was a boogeyman in my childhood,” said Barnes, who was a native of Annapolis, Maryland. “If I wasn’t well behaved, I was told I would be sent to Crownsville. The horror was real. My grandmother was a nurse at the hospital, and I knew I didn’t want anything to do with that place.”
Founded at the turn of the 20th century outside of Annapolis, Maryland, the Crownsville Hospital was a notoriously segregated, all-Black psychiatric institute. After decades of overcrowding and neglect— alongside darker, more-persistent rumors of patient abuse and illegal medical experiments—it was finally closed. Today, it stands condemned—a crumbling testament to a legacy of all-too-real terror inflicted on a marginalized and vulnerable community. But even as a ruin of its former self, Crownsville still casts a long shadow. . . .
In the highly anticipated series, an unexplained death inside the abandoned hospital is ruled a suicide. But a lone police detective and his old friend—a local journalist— soon discover the reality of the horrors that are still locked within its walls. In issue two, the mystery deepens around Annapolis police detective Mike Simms and journalist Paul Blairare as they discover that anyone coming into contact with the facility is being deeply affected —and even killed… penance for sins of the past.
CROWNSVILLE #1 (of 5)
WRITTEN BY RODNEY BARNES
ART BY ELIA BONETTI
COVER A BY JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER
COVER B BY ELIA BONETTI
COVER C BY SZYMON KUDRAŃSKI
FULL ART VARIANT (1:10) BY JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER
VARIANT COVER (1:20) BY ANDREA SORRENTINO
ON SALE NOVEMBER 12, 2025 | $4.99 | 48 PAGES | FC
IOC: 9/27/2025
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- I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!
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