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.

 

The Handmaid Protests

Woman rights advocates began attending protests dressed as handmaids from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale after the release of the Hulu series adaptation in 2017.

Cloaked Crusader: George Washington in Comics

The first president of the United States was honored by New York City’s Fraunces Tavern Museum in 2022 with a special exhibit highlighting his appearances in the world of comic books.

Grover Krantz: In Search of Bigfoot

The Washington State University anthropologist was a firm believer in Bigfoot and devoted his life to scientifically proving the creature’s existence despite derision from his fellow academics.

It Happened at the World’s Fair

Elvis Presley visited the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair for ten days in September to film his twelfth Hollywood musical, and local teenage fans screamed and swooned the entire time he was there.

Suciasaurus Rex: Washington’s First Dinosaur

In May 2012, two paleontologists from the Burke Museum in Seattle uncovered a partial dinosaur fossil in the state of Washington despite the region being underwater millions of years ago.

San Diego Air & Space Museum

The museum opened in 1963 as a homage to the human quest for flight and has since evolved into one of the premier institutions on the history of air and space travel in the country.

1962 Seattle World’s Fair

The summer-long event started as a commemoration of the 1909 A-Y-P Exhibition before evolving into a celebration of science and the future that transformed the city’s landscape.

Green Arrow: Home Alki

After spending six years in Seattle, the Emerald Archer realizes he has overstayed his welcome and leaves Puget Sound after being blamed for the appearance of superpowered humans.

Star Trek: The Seattle Frontier

In the 1985 novel Star Trek: Ishmael, the twenty-third century Spock of the USS Enterprise is stranded in 1867 Seattle with his memory erased while the Klingons plot to alter Earth’s history.

Pop Culture Hero Coalition

Star Trek actress Chase Masterson co-founded the organization to help end bullying and improve the social and emotional skills in children by using popular culture as coping tools in schools.

Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds

The special exhibit created by the Museum of Pop Culture to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the original series was in essence an exploration of our own world’s past, present and future.

Minecraft: The Exhibition

The exhibit premiered at the Museum of Pop Culture in 2019 to mark the tenth anniversary of the initial release of the popular culture sensation that has evolved beyond mere video game.