Crownsville

Description: 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.

Brief description: Daniel Barnes is a writer from Fresno, CA. After serving in the U.S. Navy for four years, he enrolled in Academy of Art University, where he currently pursues a BFA in Animation Production. When he's not writing or procrastinating on his schoolwork, Daniel enjoys geeking out about Nintendo and being a weeb. He currently resides in San Francisco, CA. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @Danny8bit, if you're into that kinda thing..."

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