Crownsville (2025)

SINS OF THE PAST DON’T STAY BURIED . . . THEY ALWAYS FIND A WAY OF RISING FROM THE GRAVE! From Eisner Award–nominated writer and master storyteller Rodney Barnes (Batman: Full Moon, Killadelphia) and phenomenal artist Elia Bonetti (Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy), enter a century-spanning tale of suspense and sorrow as true crime meets shocking terror inside an infamous asylum with a tortured past in this double-sized, 48-page debut . . . 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.

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!

The MUST-READ HORROR HIT of the year continues as master storyteller Rodney Barnes (Batman: Full Moon, Killadelphia) and phenomenal artist Elia Bonetti (Darth Vader) go deeper in the mystery of the murders inside a tragedy-laden asylum with a tragically haunted history that cannot be held back any longer . . . Mysterious deaths at the long-defunct Crownsville mental institution have driven Maryland detective Mike Simms and reporter Paul Blair to dig deeper into the events that forced the infamous facility to close its doors, and what they find is a secret DYING to get out! But as they pursue the case, it is revealed that their own connections to this terrible place are proving to be much closer than either could have imagined. Both with troubled pasts, is it possible that their own lives were unknowingly defined by the ominous shadow the Crownsville institution cast over this quiet Maryland community? Can they live with what they find? And will what they find LET THEM LIVE?

From 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?

For nearly a century, Maryland’s Crownsville State Hospital has stood as a living testament to a dark chapter in America’s past . . . a segregated mental institution where Black patients were routinely subjected to abuse, neglect, unethical medical testing, and even secret government experimentation, before its doors were closed forever. But the past doesn’t always stay in the past. The ghastly and horrific secrets shuttered away at the abandoned institution have returned from the grave to seek justice for the horrors inflicted upon them. With their pasts intertwined in the history of the hospital, Detective Mike Simms and journalist Paul Blair bear witness in this stunning conclusion as the spirits of Crownsville who cannot find rest instead seek retribution!