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.

Comic Playground

Favorite Jokers - Zack's TED Talk On Pokemon Go - Augustyn Teaches The Flash 101

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.

The Joker's Final Trailer & Rumors of a Black Batman

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.

Corban Joined By Mendte & Maurer From Fireside Crew

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 Evolution Of The Super-Hero Genre from the 60's to Today

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 Return Of The Listener Mailbag & Mark V

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

Introducing New Cast Member, Comic Book author/editor Brian Augustyn

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.

Piecing Together A DC Universe: Past, Present & Future

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!

SDCC, Undiscovered Country, DC's Infinite Earths & Marvel's Shang-Chi

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

Spiderman: Far From Home SPOILED!

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!

Mad Mag Ends, Joker Character Dive & Spoiler-free Spiderman review

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!

Ace Con Insider Frank & Spiderverse Anticipation

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.

Which Super Heroes Of Acting Have Most Range...and more?

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

Amazing Arizona Comics artist Russ Kazmierczak & An Intro Primer To Comic 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!

A Dead Phoenix, DC Streaming Content Confusion & More!

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.

A Bright Swamped Phoenix

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