A good background should help define who the character is, especially early in the adventurer when he’s relatively inexperienced. Your PC’s backgrounds should do more than just provide him with skill bonus or a free minor power. I encourage players to be creative when coming up with a back-story. I’ve learned that the more detailed their origin story, the more I can use those details to help shape the game to come.
Although I derive inspiration for my campaigns and my characters from a variety of sources, I seem to get the most ideas from reading comic books. As a huge comic-book nerd with a massive collection (5,000+ issues and growing) I have no shortage of source material. What I do find surprising is how I can reread an old favourite and have it inspire me in a way it’s never done before. And that’s exactly what happened this weekend.