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COMING SOON: Rodney Barnes & Elia Bonetti Reveal the Haunted Past of CROWNSVILLE #1

This November, the Superstar Co-Creator of KILLADELPHIA Presents a Shocking Tale of Generational Horror …


Inspired by the Maryland’s Infamous Jim Crow-Era Psychiatric Hospital


 Oni Press, the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher of groundbreaking comics and graphic novels since 1997, is proud to unveil CROWNSVILLE #1 – the double-sized, 48-page first issue of a grim and gripping supernatural thriller from superstar writer Rodney Barnes (Killadelphia) and rising star Elia Bonetti (Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy) inspired by the real-life horrors of the notorious Maryland psychiatric hospital that preyed upon the Black communities of Jim Crow-era Annapolis for decades. 

With this chilling, five-part series exploring a terrifying modern-day mystery rooted in the hospital’s tragic past, Barnes — the Eisner Award-nominated writer of Killadelphia and Blackula and Peabody award-winning writer of The Boondocks and Wu-Tang: An American Saga — is collaborating with acclaimed artist Bonetti (Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy) to craft a ghost story set in the ruins of the tragedy-laden site once called the “Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland,” which finally closed in 2004 decades of controversy and disrepair. 



AUTHOR RODNEY BARNES IN FRONT OF CROWNSVILLE HOSPITAL

The 48-page CROWNSVILLE #1 will arrive in stores November 5th, 2025, with covers by Barnes' Killadelphia co-creator Jason Shawn Alexander (Spawn), interior artist Elia Bonetti (Darth Vader), Syzmon Kudranski (The Punisher), and Andrea Sorrentino (Gideon Falls, EC’s Blood Type). 

“Oni Press is known for publishing hair-raising horror comics and provocative stories with a strong, personal, and political point of view,” said Oni Press Editor-in-Chief Sierra Hahn. “CROWNSVILLE is a remarkable piece of storytelling that sits alongside our award-winning books. Rodney’s words and Elia’s haunting art combine to tell an unrelenting and riveting story, one that is as important and it is horrifying.”

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. . . . When an unexplained death inside the abandoned hospital is ruled a suicide, Annapolis police detective Mike Simms and journalist Paul Blairare are compelled to dig deeper, only to discover the reality of the horrors that once took place there . . . and the powerful connection they share to the anguished spirits of the dead that are still locked within its walls.


“CROWNSVILLE is the supernatural mystery tale I’ve been dying to tell,” said writer Rodney Barnes. “From a childhood haunt born in a place of pain, it’s my cathartic effort I’m thankful to share with the world. I can’t wait for folks to get a look at it.”

"The best kinds of horror stories challenge us to not only confront ghosts or monsters, but also grapple with the pain and terror we inflict on each other. Sometimes that torment lasts only moments, or, as is the case of CROWNSVILLE, it can span decades," said Oni President & Publisher Hunter Gorinson. "Together, Rodney and Elia have zeroed in on a masterfully, deeply rendered story that can both induce spiraling, white-knuckle terror and confront the tortured past underpinning a shocking and all-too-true chapter of modern American history."

For more updates on  Oni Press, visit them on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram



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

FOC: 10/20/2025

CROWNSVILLE #1 INTERIOR ART BY ELIA BONETTI








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