Lots of insightful discussion here! Love it <3
I like the thought that little splash art or chapter covers work as little trailers for what's to come, I definitely feel that! I'm seeing it a lot more with webcomics these days and I love how creative a lot of creators have since become. It actually gives me some motivation to do nicer ones for mine (ah, but don't we all grow fond of the text only covers sometimes?)
kayotics wrote:As for actual comic covers (as opposed to chapter covers to separate out story arcs), I really think it's up to you. I like them. While I think that good writing can make or break a comic, a really fantastic cover illustration for their story usually helps draw me in. As much as people say "don't judge a book by it's cover", that's exactly what we do, ESPECIALLY with a visual heavy medium like comics. That first image tells me a lot about whether or not I'm going to like the art or not. Also, a good cover can be used as promotional material later.
That's actually really why I'm sort of torn between the whole thing of like, an actual comic cover for stuff on the web. More often than not, I don't really see a need for it, as I prefer jumping straight into the story pages rather than all the nice splash art (I am impatient). But like you say, no right or wrong answer! I think if a comic has a beautifully done cover and hints at the greater story/theme, I certainly don't see the harm in it. I suppose my gripe is when creators fall to like, floating head type covers?