Review: Batman and Robin #28

In this review of Batman and Robin #28, The Quiet Man finally appears to have caught up with Arnold Wesker. But there’s a huge twist.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #28
Written by PHILLIP KENNEDY JOHNSON
Art by STEFANO RAFFAELE
Main Cover by NIMIT MALAVIA
Variant Covers: GUILLEM MARCH, TAURIN CLARKE, ASHLEY WOOD
Release Date: 32 pages
Release Date: 12/10/25

This review contains spoilers

Batman and Robin #28 begins with the Quiet Man arriving at the Penguin’s mansion. However, the house is empty and Penguin appears on a monitor. Penguin tells the Quiet Man that he has won and willingly hands over Arnold Wesker’s address.

Batman tails Two-Face while contemplating the phrases the Quiet Man used in their last fight. Meanwhile, Robin meets up with the Irregulars who followed TQM home after the fight and lead Robin to it. Between Robin’s investigation of the hideout and Batman’s interrogation of Two-Face, they find out that one of Falcone’s guys had known Cyrus Mercer, TQM’s son, and recruited him for a silver trade that Two-Face and Penguin were planning to hit, but Scarface got there first and killed him. One of Falcone’s men took with the silver and he’s never been seen again. Cyrus Mercer was blamed for everything. Robin finds out that TQM knows Wesker’s location.

Meanwhile, at the shop Wesker stays at, he and Blair are tied to chairs, set up to wait for The Quiet Man. Blair is able to smash the chairs, but sees TQM approach as she gets up. The two are able to hide while  their pursuer searches the shop.

Robin arrives first, just in time to see one of Penguin’s men fire an RPG into the work shop. Batman arrives and starts to get trapped and unconscious Quiet Man, but Robin brings him outside while Batman looks for Wesker and Blair. However, instead he finds Blair’s body…decaying and dead for at least a week. If she is dead, who has Batman been talking to all week?

Fake-Blair leads Wesker down a residential street, promising a Gig Surprise for him. Batman and Robin #28 ends with it being revealed that Wesker is alone and has been playing the part of Blair since he killed her.

Review

I’ll keep this one pretty short and sweet.

The art in Batman and Robin #28 is so much better than last issue. Raffaele delivers a much cleaner and consistent book, with exciting action and interesting rest panels.

The reveal of The Quiet Man’s (Mercer’s) son wasn’t anything too new, other than he was not just an innocent bystander, but he didn’t deserve to be shot. In my mind it still doesn’t justify the father’s murderous rampage, but we have stories where people killed more for less.

Now the highlight of Batman and Robin #28 is obviously the big reveal at the end. Ventriloquist is back, killed Blair and has been tricking Batman for at least a week, pretending to be her. Of course this makes one go through the last few issues to look for clues, and sure enough, in issue #27 the goons completely ignore Blair, only threaten Wesker, and in one panel we see that Blair is right next to Wesker, and the next panel, same framing, she’s gone.

Then, when Wesker and Blair are getting out of being tied up, there are two chairs, but when The Quiet Man arrives, there is only one chair. It also explains that when TQM opens the closet to find Wesker, and must see him with a dead body, giving Wesker the opportunity to escape.

I enjoyed Batman and Robin #28 very much and find that the story telling, the twists and turns, and the supporting characters more than make up for the boring motivations for The Quiet Man.

Stephanie Mounce

Stephanie had watched Batman movies and shows since she was a little girl, but didn’t read comics until 2017 when she discovered Batman’s proposal to Catwoman. She discovered the TBU Comics Podcast and devoured the episodes. When the call went out to find a temporary co-host to fill Stella’s shoes, Steph wasted no time in volunteering. The rest, they say, is history and Steph has been a co-host of the podcast since May 2018. She has since also become a writer of sales numbers and Batman merch articles for The Batman Universe. When she isn’t reading TBU comics, Steph is practicing her new career, voice acting. She also enjoys watching anime, playing games, or living her best life with her husband and two cats.