I don't understand why they are not making their characters attractive by default like is done in manga. People want to see cute characters and I imagine most artists want to draw cute characters.
Also, here it’s a magazine which will sometimes talk about hard or sad topics so I don’t think you want something too bright, a neutral style like shown here seems to be the most sensible choice.
I remember reading a lot of comic where every character was actually ugly. The only exceptions were tintin and blake et mortimer (from my childhood comic selection obviously)
Like all comics like achille talon, asterix obelix, gaston lagaffe, boule et bill, cedric... Every character is exaggerated and not in flattering manner.
I had adult graphic novel from the 2000’s onward in mind.
Etienne Davodeau & consorts for instance.”Les mauvaises gens”