I believe that option turns avatars off when looking at entry summaries (like when you're on the main page, or on a page for a mag) but there isn't a way to turn them off in the comments section.
I did actually end up making the comment section avatars larger so that I could put the voting controls under them right before I went to bed last night... thats one of the few places where my changes use up more space, but they give more of a reddit "feel" since doing that puts the vote controls close to where they were on reddit (old and new) and looks cleaner despite using more space...
idk how I feel about it, its technically less "slim" but looks a little prettier.