Comic books have traditionally had issues with diversity, primarily having he-men white males as their protagonists.  Some work has been done in attempts to diversify, but absolutely more can be done.  This sore subject and the debate about diversity has ignited again over a coloring mistake.  DC Comics is the focus now due to their Free Comic Book Day Green Lantern give-away which also featured a preview of Flashpoint.  In the Free Comic Book Day version of the comic the below panel appeared.

Notice the white blond woman to the far right.  Below is the corrected version that appeared in the USA Today.

Notice anything different? (Que “One of these things is not like the other”)

The character in question is supposed to be Jenni Ognats, the mixed-race character known as XS, granddaughter of Barry Allen.  According to Newsarama the colorist merely believed it was Jesse Quick, another DC character in the Flash family.

This has rankled some including the blog DC Women Kicking Ass which has covered in depth the issue of diversity in comics.  They’ve run two articles you can read here and here and hint at greater conspiracy.

Mistakes are made, often.  Sometimes in coloring, lettering and often continuity.  Sometimes a mistake is a mistake, nothing more.  I agree there’s not enough diversity in comics, but aren’t there times you just point out the goof and chalk it up to a mistake?  Mistakes happen, but to pile on and claim conspiracy/racism/whatever is a bit overboard in my mind.