One of my biggest problems with mainstream superhero comics is the art; specifically, the art's de-emphasis on individual character design. Though the artists are largely talented, they tend to recycle the same faces, bodies, and poses. With women, most artists will use exactly one face and one body type. With men, there's only a couple more in the queue-- for bodies especially, it's just buff, really buff, and Hulk-level grotesquely buff. And the previews for Marvel's April catalog give us a good example of this problem, by popular artist David Finch;



All three women on this pin-up look exactly alike, even the Japanese character Psylocke. The men aren't much better; the only one who looks substantially different in body type is Colossus, and that's because he's a big hulking mass of organic metal. Look closely, and you see the same facial and skeletal structures on Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Archangel.

What's really galling about this is that it wasn't necessary to make them all look alike to fit the heroic posing mold. All these characters have rich backstories, and thinking through their histories would give the artist the opportunity to provide diverse looks that are still impressive and attractive. For example...

-- Logan ( Wolverine ) has two basic looks; the ruggedly handsome man that 6' 2" Hugh Jackman portrayed, and the stumpy, hairy, 5' 3" little troll that the comics introduced him as. I can't tell if that's hair on his arms or just dynamic use of shadow, but putting some fuzz there would help. And while his mask hides much of his face, a couple subtle touches to establish his animalistic nature-- perhaps a sharper nose and pronounced canine teeth-- would go miles to make him look unique.

-- Just because Kurt ( Nightcrawler ) is a blue-furred, three-fingered, two-toed, pointy-eared devil man with a prehensile tail, doesn't mean he has to have identical body structure to the others. Before joining the X-Men, he had a lucrative career as an acrobatic circus freak; a leaner, tighter body than the muscle-bound Wolverine would establish that. Also, since he's often nicknamed " Elf ", why not give him elfin features-- he's already got the ears, but perhaps a leaner face, in the style of Orlando Bloom? The fangirls would surely appreciate this.

-- Similarly, Warren ( Archangel ) would have a different body structure-- the Marvel Handbooks tell us that to support his wings, he's got a lot of muscle but thinner, hollower bones. And while he doesn't have much to smile about since his Evil Metal Wings resurfaced, he used to be quite the looker-- even under the blue skin and bad attitude, he should still have that pretty ( in a WASP ideal of beauty, at least ) mug.

-- Laura ( X-23 ) is a teen girl clone of Wolverine. Fortunately for her, this doesn't mean being coated in body hair. However, she should have more of her " daddy's " phenotypical traits as adapted to a teen girl-- maybe a slightly shorter, thicker build than average. Finch seems to have her unleashing a battle cry, but it just looks like her mouth's hanging open-- how about an animalistic fury expression, fangs bared and eyes bloodshot? Or if you're going for the " emotionless killbot " persona, a completely neutral and cold face?

-- Illyana ( Magik ) may have been raised in a demonic limbo, but she was born Russian. She, at least, could potentially be excused for her face and figure as fitting into the Russian model mold, a Maria Sharapova of the mutant set. But her face is expressionless in this shot, with no clear reason. Since she has her Soulsword out, how about also giving her some of the Darkchylde features-- an increasingly demonic face, perhaps going so far as to bring the horns out? Make it look like by using her power, she's going back to the dark side?

-- Betsy ( Psylocke ) is the worst example here; though she's Japanese ( at least the body her British mind is currently inhabiting is-- genetic yellowface, but I digress ), she looks like any other white girl. How about, at the very least, giving her Asian features? Or, if you want to be more ambitious, giving her a slimmer and slighter build-- the hourglass look may be more conventionally attractive, but it's not at all suited for the rigors of her ninjutsu. Chris Bachalo drew Psylocke perfectly in this regard-- why not follow his example?

These are just a few subtle touches that would give the image personality, instead of rendering it another example of identical supermodels in varied types posing and grimacing.