How do comics use the future to examine the present? Christine (Capes and Whips) explores how Sarah Stone's art in the Transformers comics Starscream and More than Meets the Eye is particularly female and queer-friendly through character design and facial expressions. MicheleBrittany (Spyfi & Superspies) analyzes how Garth Ennis effectively employs space opera and horror genre tropes, with particular attention to gender identity, body transformation, and societal values. AjaniBrown (San Diego State University) uses the lens of AfroFuturism to explore what it means to be identified as "alien" or "other" in figures such as ICON, Concrete, Deathlok, Papa Midnite, and the Black Panther.
