Oni Press announced the November 2025 release of Crownsville, a supernatural thriller by Rodney Barnes and Elia Bonetti.
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.”
Oni Press · Releases Dec 10, 2025
Crownsville #2
WRENCHED BACK FROM THE ABYSS, A BLOODSTAINED HISTORY HAS COME ROARING BACK TO HAUNT THE LIVING! Inspired by the all-too-real events of Maryland’s most notorious mental asylum, master storyteller Rodney Barnes (Batman: Full Moon) and ethereal artist Elia Bonetti (Darth Vader) unite to tell the heart-pounding tale of a murder investigation where the vengeful ghosts of the 20th century are both suspect and witness…
The spirits are stirring in the long-abandoned mental institution known as Crownsville. The long-buried dark secrets of its past are forcing their way to the surface. What happened at this troubled place so many years ago? These tortured souls are determined to be paid their due. Anyone now coming into contact with the facility is being deeply affected—and even killed… penance for sins of the past.
How can crimes so heinous be repaid? With the spectre of the past looming large, a lone police detective and his old friend—a local journalist—are determined to uncover the secrets of Crownsville and try to put the past to rest once and for all!
Comic · 32 pages · $4.99
WRITTEN BY RODNEY BARNES
ART BY ELIA BONETTI
COVER A BY JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER
COVER B BY ELIA BONETTI
FULL ART VARIANT (1:10) BY JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER
$4.99 | 32 PGS. | FULL COLOR | ON SALE FEBRUARY 11, 2026From master storyteller Rodney Barnes (Batman: Full Moon, Killadelphia) and otherworldly artist collaborator Elia Bonetti (Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy), this long-buried tale of suspense and sorrow based on true events from an infamous asylum with a tortured past is about to come raging back to life . . .
Staring deeply into the mouth of madness, Detective Mike Simms must confront his family’s secret past to unlock the dreadful secrets which lie buried in the long-condemned halls of the abandoned Crownsville mental institution. The spirits of the past demand retribution for the sins visited upon them in their waking life, and only the souls of the living can offer peace to the torment of the damned . . . and they don’t care how they get it!
Can Mike and his partner unlock the secret to freeing these tormented spirits or will the halls of Crownsville once again run red with the blood of the innocent?
