I think the thing I really dislike about these, and a big reason I killed all the neck as well as some of the lower head bit, is the head and neck together range from like half the bodies height to the entire body just about.
Now some styles do this, or giant heads and tiny bodies, etc so its really an art preference I suppose. Its just not one I like

So I thought about this, and yeah, the head is actually really big. Can't believe I didn't notice that.
However, two things bother me about your sprite. Number one: The lack of neck. It kind of looks like he's constantly shrugging or something. And two: The height, or rather, lack of it. It's kind of short, especially compared to the other characters.
So I did this:

Basically I took your sprite, gave it a neck, and slightly enlarged the body to go with it. Again, leave your feedback!