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. He also curated two exhibits while there: “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: “Did Comic Books Help Elect Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman?” poster presentation at the American Historical Association in Chicago in January 2026; “Miami Vice and the Contra War in Nicaragua” at the Popular Culture Association Conference in New Orleans in April 2025; “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 that explored the Ethiopian famine and Apartheid; 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.

In addition to writing for Remixing History, Letizia is working on a book that ties together the fictional narratives from the Marvel Comics Universe of the 1960s and the factual events of the decade, similar to the articles that serve as the backbone of Remixing History but in a longer and more detailed format.

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

A Captain America History of the United States

In 1976, comic book legend Jack Kirby sent Captain America traveling through time in a brief history of the United States that reads like a cross between Howard Zinn and Jill Lepore.

Star Trek: Threads of Destiny

Actress Nichelle Nichols met civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1967 while her Star Trek character Lieutenant Nyota Uhura had a similar encounter in a February 2026 comic book.

Wonder Women of History

Wonder Women of History and its replacement Marriage à la Mode appeared in early Wonder Woman comic books, reflecting the shifting cultural norms in the U.S. during and after World War II.

Captain America Attends Farm Aid

In Captain America #327, Steve Rogers heads to Madison, Wisconsin, ostensibly to visit his former girlfriend Bernadette “Bernie” Rosenthal but also to track down...

Superman and the San Diego Rainmaker

Charles Hartfield was hired by San Diego as a rainmaker in 1916, resulting in devastating consequences, while Superman had to later stop another rainmaker from likewise causing havoc.

Superman vs. the Slums

To keep a group of kids from turning to a life of crime, Superman forces President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal to build low-cost housing after the superhero demolishes a city slum.

Superman and the Public Works Administration

Superman both holds a bridge upright so a train can safely pass overhead and creates a new dam when the old one breaks apart, similar to efforts of the New Deal’s Public Works Administration.

Superman and the New Deal

Superman was created during the Great Depression and President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, protecting the “forgotten man” not from supervillains but everyday criminals of the times.

Superman and the Securities Exchange Act

In April 1939, Superman is given a crash course on why regulation of the stock market was necessary when he uncovers a stock swindle that wipes out the life’s savings of investors.

Star Trek’s Philosophy of Peace and Justice

Professor José-Antonio Orosco uses the sci-fi franchise to explore the concepts of peace studies, including Jane Addam’s theory of “negative” and “positive” peace and the Prime Directive.

Solution Squad

In 2017, middle school teacher Jim McClain created a 132-page graphic novel featuring a team of superheroes who use math to solve crimes as a way to better engage students in the classroom.

Comic Book Conventions and New York Public Schools

During the 2025 New York Comic Con, three educators from the New York City Public School system discussed their success at duplicating the comic con experience for their students.