Anthony Letizia

Anthony Letizia has been many things through the years, including an accountant, journalist, and playwright. From June 2014 to May 2019, he served on the board – as well as treasurer – of the ToonSeum, a nonprofit museum of the cartoon and comic arts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While there, Letizia curated two exhibits, “To Boldly Go: The Graphic Art of Star Trek” (October 2016 to January 2017) and “Popology: An Exhibit of Pop Culture and Comics” (September 2017 to November 2017), as well as co-curated “Wonder Woman: Visions” (November 2017 to February 2018).

After a decades-long hiatus, Anthony Letizia completed his M.A. in History at Duquesne University in December 2024. He has used his history background to make a number of presentations in recent years on the ways that popular culture intersects with the real world. The list includes: “Superheroes Battle Pollution on the First Earth Day” poster presentation as part of the Comics Arts Conference at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024; “DC Comics and August 1986” at the Popular Culture Association Conference in Chicago in March 2024; and “Green Arrow as Social Justice Warrior” as part of the Comics Arts Conference at WonderCon in Anaheim in March 2023. He also organized/moderated a panel at the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle in August 2022 entitled “A Green Arrow History of Seattle” and made a brief “Marvel Comics History of the 1960s” presentation at the virtual Popular Culture Association conference in April 2022.

Although still an accountant by day, at night Anthony Letizia is a strong proponent and true believer in the power of Geek Culture. He can be reached at anthony@geekfrontiers.com.

 

Sea Monsters: Delving into the Deep Myth

The Maritime Museum of San Diego featured an exhibit on sea monsters that ran from May 2022 through August 2023 located in the hull of the Star of India sailing ship, itself a relic of the past.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

The Disneyland attraction was officially made part of Star Wars mythology in the 2019 novel Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire and captures the essence of what life is like on the outskirts of the galaxy.

The Seattle Gum Wall

Since the early 1990s, both residents and tourists have been leaving their gum on the walls of Post Alley, located near Pike Place Market, creating a tourist attraction in known worldwide.

Magic: The Gathering

The popular trading card game began as a tale of two cities on opposite ends of the country, with Richard Garfield designing the game in Philadelphia and a Seattle-based company producing it.

Bill Speidel and the Seattle Underground

After an 1889 fire leveled twenty-five blocks of Seattle, the city decided to elevate the streets and sidewalks, creating an underground that became a popular tourist attraction during the 1960s.

Iron Man: The Return of Fin Fang Foom

The extraterrestrial dragon known as Fin Fang Foom makes a second visit to Seattle only to again thwarted by Iron Man in a special comic only available on military bases around the world.

Viking: Warriors of the North Sea

The traveling exhibit from the National Museum of Denmark transports visitors to the Viking Age and the seafaring culture of fierce warriors who inevitably left their mark on the times.

Jeffrey Veregge: Of Gods and Heroes

The S’Klallam Tribe artist has found success as a comic book illustrator, and even has a large mural featuring Marvel superheroes on display at the Native American Museum in New York.

Black Canary: Garlic Gulch

Dinah Lance and her superhero persona Black Canary assist a resident of the Garlic Gulch neighborhood of Seattle threatened by a real estate developer looking to build luxury apartments.

Fandom Acts of Kindness

In their 2023 book Fandom Acts of Kindness, Tanya Cook and Kaela Joseph explore the growing realm of fan activism, in which fictional fandoms are used to do good in the real world.

Charles Hatfield: San Diego Rainmaker

In 1916, self-proclaimed rainmaker Charles Hatfield was hired by San Diego to fill Morena Reservoir by the end of year, a feat accomplished in mere weeks with devastating consequences.

Proctor Valley Road

The dirt thoroughfare near San Diego is host to a plethora of urban legends, from ghosts to monsters to demon cars, and plays a central role in the 2021 Grant Morrison graphic novel.