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.

 

Field Museum

The Field Museum in Chicago, one of the premier natural history museums in the United States, is home to Sue the T. Rex, the largest and most complete specimen of its species ever discovered.

Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition

Seattle sponsored the first world’s fair held in the state of Washington in 1909, an event that showcased the city as the gateway to the north following the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897.

Kenneth Arnold and the First Flying Saucer

Kenneth Arnold reported the first documented UFO sighting on June 24, 1947, while traveling past Mount Rainier near Seattle, giving rise to the phrase “flying saucers” in the process.

Iron Man: The Fury of the Dragon

In a 1999 issue of The Incredible Iron Man, a young man steals a dragon idol that transforms into the extraterrestrial villain Fin Fang Foom and rampages his way through Seattle, Washington.

Star Wars Identities

The traveling exhibit launched in 2012 and examined the influences that shaped the identities of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, as well as others within the Star Wars Universe.

Star Wars: The Power of Costume

The travelling exhibit premiered in 2015, featuring original costumes and designs from both the original trilogy and prequels while highlighting their overall importance within Star Wars.

Salem: Witch City

The 1692 Salem Witch Trials has made the Massachusetts enclave a popular tourist attraction, but the city continues to struggle with balancing the somber event and overt commercialism.

Nomad: The Favor Banker

Jack Monroe, who was once given a derivative of the same serum that transformed Steve Rogers into Captain America, took the moniker of Nomad in the 1990s and briefly visited Seattle.

Illustrating Batman

The 2019 exhibit at the New York Society of Illustrators contained original artwork from fifty artists, showcasing the various depictions of the Dark Knight over the course of eighty years.

The Peabody Museum and Frederic Putnam

The museum of archaeology and ethnology at Harvard University and its second director were instrumental forces in the establishment of American anthropology during the late 1800s.

The Intrepid and the Enterprise

The aircraft carrier USS Intrepid serves as a floating museum in New York City and includes the original prototype Space Shuttle, named Enterprise in honor of Star Trek, as part of its collection.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame

Originally founded in Kansas City in 1996, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame was transferred to Seattle in 2004 and is now a significant part of the Museum of Pop Culture.