Poster Boy

You can't judge a book by it's cover.
But sadly this is how your books will be judged by your "would be customers".
In the art world, appearance is (very much) everything.
Hence your cover should serve as an icebreaker and a brief introduction as to how your art/interior pages look like.
So t'would be best to choose a strong and relevant image.
One that best represent your vision and your story.

The following are some of the best (and at times the worst) comic covers that anyone could use for their own layouts.
It's unnecessary to follow these examples but rather, let this be your helpful guide instead.
Use them in moderation and as much as possible keep your layouts unique and unpredictable.

Cliche Comic Covers (Some terminologies might not be that of their official names but created for this particular discussion's sake).
1. Big Heads

2. Death Of " "

3. Crowded Group Shots

4. Last Man Standing

5. Landscape or Scenery

6. Negative Space

7. Action or Showing The Character's Abilities/ Transformations

8. Stare down or Showdown

9. Destroying The Book/ Cover/ Font

10. Homages/ Tributes

a. Album Cover Homages

b. Famous Photo Homages

c. Famous Painting Homages

11. Surrounded By Villains

12. Symbols

13. Silhouette

14. Crossovers

a. Special Guest Celebrities

15. Farewell Issues

16. Major Storylines/Arcs/Chapters

17. Minimalism

18. Updated Versions Of An Old Cover

19. New Costumes

20. On Sight /Target For Termination /On Someone Else's Crosshairs/Spotlight

And as expected, here were some of the more "done to death" 90's Gimmick Covers.
1. Variants/ Connecting Covers

2. Holograms

3. Foils

4. Colorforms

5. Special Diecuts

6. Glow In The Dark

7. Items Pasted On The Cover

8. Embossed Foil

9. First Issues That No One Really Asked For

10. Hyperviolent Versions Of Your Favorite Characters

Unique comic covers based on their creators:
1. Dan De Carlo

2. Jim Steranko

3. Jack Kirby

4. Tales From The Crypt

5. Gold Key

6. Frank Miller

7. John Romita Sr.

8. Steve Ditko

9. Mike Mignola

And for more equal representation, here are some manga covers for comparison's sake.

Most manga covers are text and layout based hence there isn't much to discuss here.
So that's that and hopefully everyone learned something today's topic for after all, everyday is a learning experience!