Oni Press is releasing CROWNSVILLE #1, a 48-page, double-sized first issue. Rodney Barnes (Killadelphia) writes it. Elia Bonetti (Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy) provides the art. The story draws from the real-life horrors of a Maryland psychiatric hospital that targeted Black communities during the Jim Crow era.
The five-part series takes place in the ruins of Crownsville Hospital. Once called the “Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland,” it was notorious for overcrowding, neglect, and abuse. Rumors of illegal medical experiments surrounded it for decades. The state shut it down in 2004.
In the comic, an unexplained death inside the abandoned hospital is ruled a suicide. Detective Mike Simms and journalist Paul Blair don’t believe it. They dig deeper. What they find links them to the spirits of the dead—spirits still trapped in the building’s walls.
CROWNSVILLE #1 hits stores November 5, 2025. Covers come from Jason Shawn Alexander (Spawn), Elia Bonetti (Darth Vader), Szymon Kudranski (The Punisher), and Andrea Sorrentino (Gideon Falls).
“This story blends history and horror,” says Oni Press Editor-in-Chief Sierra Hahn. “Rodney’s words and Elia’s art create an unrelenting, powerful tale.”
Barnes says, “This is the supernatural mystery I’ve always wanted to tell. It comes from a place of pain. Sharing it is my way of facing it.”
Oni Press President Hunter Gorinson adds, “The best horror makes us face our monsters—and the harm we do to each other. CROWNSVILLE delivers that fear and confronts a real, painful part of American history.”
