Next month is Hispanic Heritage Month, and DC Comics plans to celebrate with a number of variant covers. Seven in total will be published, but the company is coming under fire for making them all about...food.
All but one of these covers focus on what many feel are stereotypical examples of Hispanic dining choices, though it's a cover for Titans United Bloodpact featuring Green Lantern Kyle Rayner that's generated the most attention. Illustrated by Jorge Molina, the original paid homage to La Patria, a famous painting by Mexican mural artist Jorge González Camarena.
However, DC Comics decided to change it, eliminating Molina's original homage (seemingly due to legal reasons) and putting a grocery bag stuffed with tamales in Kyle's hand.
The prevailing opinion seems to be that this cover is stereotypical and offensive, and Molina has made his feelings on the matter clear, essentially disowning this edited cover by removing his name from it. We're not sure what DC Comics was thinking here, but the backlash on social media has been very vocal.
That isn't surprising, and while the company likely wanted to honour Hispanic cuisine, boiling these characters down to something like tamales is pretty unreal (especially when you look at the original cover).
Check out the original and redesigned covers below along with comments from Molina: