Can't Disagree
So, does the cover matter anymore? Well, everything matters. It's just a question of degree. And at this point, the cover no longer has to shoulder the promotional weight that it once did--so it matters perhaps a little less than it once did.
Worth reading the whole article, (tip of the hat to Graeme over at Newsarama's blog for pointing it out). What I really find interesting in it is the admission that the comics market is closed, that comics are sold off of pre-orders and there's little or no effort to push beyond those boundaries to actually make any sales. I'd be the first to admit that covers aren't really going to sell to most folks in comic shops. They get the titles they get when they get them, following characters and not creators.
Granted Marvel's gotten better with branding their big event covers for easy recognition. But you kind of have to do that when you're depending on those tentpole crossovers for your continued existence. And story related covers aren't going to convince people to try THING, nor will the iconic covers scare people away from NEW AVENGERS/YOUNG AVENGERS, as Tom Breevort points out.
But that's in the DM. Where comics are sold as periodicals and trades are an afterthought. Do covers move books in the real world? Yes and no. A compelling cover will demand you to pick up the book and flip it over to read what it's about. You stick Greg Horn on the cover and it's going to look like a girlie mag (though he did clean up his act for the second volume of EMMA FROST, but probably too late to keep it from being shunned by its real audience--considering the emphasis was on gawky teen Emma and not zaftig Playmate Emma.)
I'm not going to refute any of Mr. Breevort's arguments, because I simply can't. In terms of the DM, he's spot-on. The cover matters when it comes time to get orders, but it's not going to change buying habits of most comics readers. But then maybe we should be shooting beyond the installed base, eh?
Remember, folks aren't going to read a book in public if they're embarassed about being attached to the cover that's parked under their nose. But then the inside has got to appeal as well, and frankly, most of Marvel's and DC's output doesn't have a readership beyond existing comics readers. Though they could, if they wanted to...