I've never been a fan of the darker/duller tiles unless they specifically complimented the rest of the level (As you said, Comic Club). For this reason, I often declined levels submitted by community submitters such as Mesh_P2P2 whose style it was to create such levels.
I've not really taken a big look around Era for nearly 2 years so I can't speak on most of the things you've mentioned here, but it does seem like we are of the same opinion regarding what a level shouldn't be.