Comic Playground with Frank Caliendo

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Comic Playground is becoming 'The Frank Caliendo Cast Is Nerding Out' and will become an offshoot of the Frank Caliendo Cast where the Comic Playground Crew joins the Caliendo Cast to discuss 'Nerding Out' topics. FUTURE posts will be posted at www.thefrankcaliendocast.com where you can download and subscribe. SO THEN, in this FIRST episode of The Frank Caliendo Cast Is Nerding Out, The Caliendo Cast of Frank & John Holmberg share some final opinions on The Joker and how it seems to be resonating with audiences. Then The Comic Playground Crew of Brian Augustyn, Zack Colman, Adonnis Blake & Donny Ivory join the fray to discuss their favorite 'Jokers', Zack Colman gives a superb TED Talk-style dissertation on Pokemon Go, and Brian Augustyn teaches a 101 course on The Flash.

Frank is joined this week by Bryan Augustyn, Corban Ford, and Adonnis Blake to discuss their thoughts and expectations for the upcoming DC release of 'The Joker', starring Joaquin Phoenix following the studio's release of the "final" film trailer, and Corban announces news of a rumored Black Batman casting.

This week scheduling snafus meant that Corban was the only cast member available so he enlisted some help and is joined by our buddies, Jon Mendte & Mr Mauer, from our sister podcast The Fireside Crew (www.welcometofireside.com @FiresideCrew) for a breakdown of the D23 Expo.

The guys discuss what it was like in the 60's for an 11 year old Brian Augustyn to see his beloved characters hit the big screen for the first time, the prevailing feeling about those characters at the time, and how the process has evolved across the decades to the high budget productions of today MCU & DCU.

The guys welcome the return of the listener/subscriber mailbag and answer questions submitted on social media as well as a return of the infamous Mark V. Comics & Movies Referenced: MCU - Marvel Cinematic Universe, D.C. Universe, Batman Dark Night Returns, Batman Hush, Jim Lee (artist, writer), Watchmen, Tom King (writer), Image Comics - Outcast, Walking Dead, Walking Dead Comic Book, Rick Grimes, Comic Book Grading, Marvel Civil War, Mark Millar, Steve McNiven, Silver Surfer, Batman: The New 52, Nightwing, Batwoman, House of X, Powers of X, Maximum Carnage, Stan Lee, Todd McFarlane, Flash Gordon, Rise of the Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four, Venom, Ghost Rider, X-Men Origins Wolverine, Ang Lee Hulk Movie

The guys welcome in famed comic book writer/editor Brian Augustyn as part of the team for a discussion of his career, the new Amazon Prime series 'The Boys' and dream super hero roles for actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson

The CP gang is joined by the inimitable Mr. Maurer from The Fireside Crew (www.welcometofireside.com) for a deep discussion on the DC Cinematic Universe and its past, present and future projects.

The guys are joined once again by David Morrison of Cretaceous Designs (@epicofrheno) for a discussion of all things seen & heard from SDCC, Ken informs us of a new Scott Snyder Project, Corban's excited for new DC Infinite Earths content coming to the CW and Donny is looking forward to Marvel's upcoming Shang-Chi project!

The guys get into a SPOILER-filled discussion of Marvel's Spiderman: Far From Home.

The guys get back in gear with a discussion on the impact of Mad magazine as DC announced the end of NEW publications. Then they do a deep-ish character dive on the character of the Joker before finally getting into a spoiler-free review of Spider Man: Far From Home!

Frank Is Back From attending ACE Con in Seattle with his daughter Juliet, The guys discuss the Avengers: Endgame Rerelease and talk about the impending Spiderman Spiderverse takeover of Far From Home and Ultimate Spiderman Miles Morales!

The guys get the band back together to touch on a myriad of topics including Toy Story 4, Men In Black: International, a discussion of which actors who have played a Super Hero have the best chance to move on outside of the genre, DCU's Batwoman, Corban becomes good ol' Grandpa Ford and wrapped with talk about DC's Vertigo Line ending and thoughts and hopes for Frank Miller's Superman Year One.

The guys welcome guest Russ Kazmierczak from Amazing Arizona Comics to talk about self publishing work. and Corban & Ken give a Comic 101 primer on collecting terms & an Intro to Collecting

The guys start out with a less than flattering review & critique of Dark Phoenix and then try to make sense of the many confusing decisions being made with DC content and their streaming service. Ken Brown gets into his excitement for upcoming new content coming to the Walking Dead Comic book series. Finally we give thoughts on this weeks theatrical release of Men In Black: International aka Thor: Ragnarok 2 and give some love and hope for more of the character affectionately known as Fat Thor!

The guys were joined by Matt from the 'Absolute Geek' podcast to discuss initial thoughts on the pilot episode of DC's Swamp Thing an then get into hope for this week's big theatrical release of Marvel's Dark Phoenix which leads to a new poll to determine a list of BEST female bad-asses and finally we get the guy's review of last week's release of Brightburn and whether or not it lived up to the hype.

Saturday May 25th at Phoenix Fan Fusion the gang from Comic Playground along with the Steven Mauer & Jon Mendte from The Fireside Crew (www.welcometofireside.com) hosted a panel discussion with creators Billy Tucci (She), Brian Augustyn (Gotham By Gaslight) and Richard & Wendy Pini (Elfquest) about their trials navigating the comic book/art business over the past 30+ years.

The Playground crew was joined by The Fireside Chats Podcast Crew (www.welcometofireside.com) from Philly who were in town to take in the Phoenix Fan Fusion weekend together. The guys all talk about their experiences, sights, sounds and faves from this weekend's festivities.

With Phoenix Fan Fusion looming this weekend the guys get into some anticipated upcoming Batman projects on the horizon, share thoughts about this week's theatrical release of Brightburn and other "what-if" scenarios, get into what to expect for attendees of Fan Fusion for the uninitiated and then have a spoiler-filled discussion of the finale of HBO's Game Of Thrones.

With the release of the latest Marvel X-Men installment 'Dark Phoenix' just weeks away the guys decided, along with the help of Drawn To Comics owner Ken Brown, to take a deep dive into the origin of the Jean Grey character and the X-Men team that surrounds her tangentially. Corben then takes us on a preview of the just announced CW series 'Batwoman' starring Ruby Rose (Netflix's 'Orange Is The New Black') and gives his thoughts on the direction the series may take.

Zack arranged a box of goods from our friends at Hasbro so we unleashed Donny on it!

With Adonnis out after undergoing surgery Joe returned to the fold and the guys got into the big nerd news of the week which was the trailer dropping for the July release of Spiderman: Far From Home. Joe gives his review and thoughts on Avengers: Endgame and we hit on potential plot hole we're seeing now after having seen it multiple times. Then we get set and prepped for the big Phoenix Fan Fusion convention coming up Memorial Day weekend and discuss things we have planned for it. And finally we reset what was a great Free Comic Book Day in Glendale, AZ this past weekend.

If you have NOT seen Avengers: Endgame fear not. The first half of this week's CP episode is simply dedicated to our initial thoughts and reviews of the film and it is SPOILER FREE. Then after a warning we go into full spoiler mode and discuss our favorite moments, the culmination of this phase of the MCU and where we think this could pick up after the events of Endgame.

With the HUGE release this week of Avengers: Endgame the guys all get in the final thoughts on what the movie will bring to the Marvel Universe and the ending of this chapter and the characters involved in it. We look to the future of where our favorite Super Heroes will land, and with this being the END for the Avengers (for now) this week's Mark 5 is all about our favorite ending and finales. And lastly we react to episode 2 of season 8 of The Game Of Thrones.

With last week's announcement by Disney of a launch date for their streaming service Disney +, the guys get into what content they want to see on the platform as well as what properties Disney could potentially house there. Also last week saw the dropping of the FIRST trailer for Star Wars IX: Rise Of Skywalker so we gave our initial impressions of that. But the BIG news of this weeks episode is the debute of HBO's Game Of Thrones Season 8. And with Corban having never seen a single episode we played a new game with him called Game Of Thrones Character, Famous Athlete or Famous Scientist.

With the release of Shazam topping the box office Playground gives their thoughts and review of the movie. They try and gleen any possible nuggets from the latest Avengers: End Game trailer. Corban gives a brief history of both Hellboy and a Joker origins explanation. Everyone shares excitement over the new trailer from DC for the upcoming Joaquin Phoenix 'The Joker' movie. And nearly but not quite forgotten...a top/Mark 5 of BEST Clowns regardless of genre.

With Corban BACK in the fold and Joe OUT the guys find out what had Corban on the sidelines last week and then get into preparation for this week's box office release of DC's SHAZAM with a brief history of the character. The Mark 5 list is best Underdogs which somehow Corban managed to mess up. And lastly the guys talk about where they feel the DC Universe is headed and how things are being perceived thus far.

In celebration of March Madness the guys constructed their own 32 "team" tournament bracket of beloved characters from the cinematic & comic/super-hero landscape and then debated the merits (or lack of) each entrant to determine a very UN-scientific champion!

We get ALL of the guys best “What If” ideas... Well... Almost all of them.

Last week’s audio issue with the Chickmunks. Donny gets angry at comedy and Norm Macdonald fires back. What ifs of what ifs... Great fans make the best comic book stories and the best podcasts (hopefully)! Frank wins again, Joe barely finishes a sentence. The guys talk cereal and we find out Zack is Grape Nuts. Frank tries another game. Corban goes the wrong way on the Batpoll.

Donny’s outta the bag! It’s Christmastime in Corban’s mind. Adonnis changes the game again. The guys react to The Dark Phoenix trailer and it gets pretty weird pretty quickly. The Hellboy you say! This Geek in History on Helium. Wonder Woman, just for Marissa.

Donny’s Gone Wild and he refuses to listen to what was supposed to be a brief history of Doom Patrol. Reactions: The Mark 5 Top 5 ways to annoy Frank. Rip…Offs? Corban, Adonnis, and Joe are equally crushed by poll results.

The crew went to see "Captain Marvel" and talked about it... with almost no spoilers.  Special Guest Ashley Maul.

Corban and Adonnis are back and Donny ain’t mad about it. Joe gives a history of Captain Marvel (or at least he tries to between interruptions).  We try a new game and get Flerken frustrated. Even with Zack cheating, somehow, they still all manage to lose.

With Corban sick and Adonnis having to work late at the last second... Frank puts the rest of the guys in roles outside of their wheelhouses... some of it works (Zack and alter ego names)... some of it doesn’t... and some of it’s just Donny being Donny.  

We all start out playing with dolls after his online “Corbanning” experience... Corban gets mad at baseball movies... Adonis goes all Mortal Kombat on the crew... oh... and we think Donny had a rant where he got happier as it progressed. What? Exactly. Also... top 5 time travel movies; and some that Zack just thinks are time travel movies. ​

They guys clear up some stuff from last week, hits some news stories, Donnie at the zoo? Corban makes a (really bad) deal... and Adonnis make us all think.

Endgame is a figment of Juliet’s imagination, Batman who?, and the ballad of Nicolas Kim Coppola. Plus Donny’s rant... create-a-hero and Juliet is the Trivia Master

After once again talking way too much before the show starts... the guys get to their Super bowl trailer predictions and discuss Netflix Marvel shows. Then... Donny goes on a rant? Corban Talks about Superman Reign of the Supermen. Joe Talks about his Own Superhero creation/story. Juliet makes the guys question their Marvel Movie knowledge. And... a whole lot more! ​

The Comic Playground Podcast crew discuss M. Night Shyamalan's new film, Glass; Frank's daughter stops by to breakdown the new Spider-Man trailer; Black Panther goes to the Oscars; Batman Beyond turns 20, and much, much more!   In this episode, we welcome new Comic Playground podcast member Joe Newcomer! JosephDNewcomer.com Join Facebook group “Friends and Supporters of Author Joseph D. Newcomer” Facebook Author Page El Camino Blue now available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1523987405/