So, I'm creating a mage style character on Hero side. I'm brand new to CoH...now I want to create more or less an "evil" character (well evil looking)...and don't want to play villain side, because I tried them and it was all dark and gloomy and the area was dirty looking...made me depressed

I definitely like the Heroes side more. Still want to create an evil looking character though...
if its possible on the hero side, maybe one that looks like a demon or something? I'm still patching the game, so I can't see whats available. If its possible to make a demon looking character on the heroes side, I'll probably make my powers all a mix of black/red colors...a mix maybe.
So on to the point...if the costume works, I would create a mage style character, that looks like a demon.
A lot of my time is spent soloing, I say 90%, that isn't to say I don't group...but my playtime is off/on all the time. I don't like to be the one in the group that after 5-10 min I keep going afk, or needing to log off.
So, my choices of classes appear to be:
Blaster (I heard they sucked at soloing later though? Is that true? I heard good at first, but die tons later. Thats my only worry with this class, otherwise they would probably be my top choice)
Controllers (these look like fun, and would be my 2nd choice, unless Blasters are no good solo)
Defender (I think more of a support class though? And, not sure if I can create a demon style powerset with Defender)
looking at the villain side, it would probably be easier to create a demon style character there...but heh, I'm not big on the way their areas look. Remind me of the dark gloomy zones in WoW, which were my least favorite zones in the game.
Well, thanks for any help