Crownsville - by Rodney Barnes (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Winner of the 2026 Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics
2026 Eisner Award Nominee
A Book Riot Best Comic and Graphic Novel of 2026 So Far

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.

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.

Collects Crownsville #1-6.

Review Quotes

"Readers will appreciate the real-world references with a zombie cinema bent. Readers of Chuck Brown, David F. Walker, and Sanford Greene's Bitter Root will devour this book and its dark beauty and social commentary and likely want more." --Booklist, Starred Review

"One of 2025's most engrossing horror comics."--IGN

"America's sordid history of human experimentation rises from the dead in this unsettling Eisner-nominated horror thriller from Barnes (Killadelphia) and Italian comics artist Bonetti (Night of the Living Dead).. The photorealistic comics have a scratchy overlay of cross-hatching inks that intensify the creep factor, and the grotesque art is genuinely frightening... Fans of the Bitter Root series will dig this socially conscious gothic noir."--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Rodney Barnes is the award-winning writer/producer of the acclaimed animated series The Boondocks, HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Laker's Dynasty, Hulu's Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Marvel's Runaways, Starz's American Gods, and a host of other television programs and films. He has also authored graphic novels for Oni Press and Marvel, including Quincredible and Star Wars - Lando: Double or Nothing, as well as Falcon for Marvel Comics. He is currently writing Killadelphia for Image Comics. Rodney resides in Los Angeles, California.

Born on October 20th, 1983 in Parma Italy. Elia always knew he wanted to be an artist. He was educated at the Art and the International School of Comics in Florence, Italy.