Depends. Creators factor in too. As do genre, or concept.

With modern comics, the covers rarely enter into things as most are generic posed bland things that do little to attract the eye or sell the story. There are exceptions, (especially themed variants-I have bought the Batman month variant of Detective by Steranko for instance, but that was more creator than cover itself, as I pre-ordered it for the Steranko cover before I saw what the cover was). However, when buying back issues, a cover may catch my eye and lead to a purchase-especially Steranko or Kubert covers-but again that's more creator oriented than the cover itself. However, I did go out an purchase an issue of Tomahawk for the cover after seeing the cover in our cover contest (#116). When I was a kid, I would buy things just because the cover caught my eye on the spinner rack. However the other week when I visited a comic shop for the first time in nearly a year to pick up the Scooby Doo Team Up issue featuring the Phantom Stranger and Spectre that was pointed out here on the boards and which I had called and they were holding for me. I spent a half hour there wandering looking at the shelves to see if anything else caught my eye and not a single cover did, they were all a morass of bland sameness, boring, distinguished only by trade dress (and then that only distinguished publisher not really series, content or anything else). So those covers failed to be selling points for anything.

There are factors that will lead to me buying a book though. If I like previous work by the creative team, I may give it a look. If the book is in a genre I like, I may buy it and give it a try. Or if I hear the concept of the book and am intrigued. These are things that lead me to believe I might like the story, but the story itself is not the reason for purchase initially because it is the great unknown. It could be a genre, I like, a concept that intrigues me, and a creator whose work I have enjoyed in the past but when I get to the actual story it doesn't do it for me for whatever reason (poorly executed, repetitive and unoriginal, dull, etc.) so really you the story is sight unseen until you have actually bought and read the book.

However, even though there are many things which might draw me into an initial purchase, if it's more than a one shot, there's only 1 thing that will get me to come back for a second issue-a quality story well-told in both prose and art.

So initial purchase a variety of factors, long term purchase of a series-story trumps all.

-M

What draws you in first? Is it just for the variants or is the story appealing too?

It really depends on the book. I've got complete runs of some books because I like the character, or concept...like DC Comics Presents which pairs of Superman with someone else in the DC Universe. Some stories are great, some okay, some not so interesting, yet I got them all. A good deal can be a big motivator to buy a full run of books even if some aren't so hot.

I collect specific titles, so variants are of interest if there's an artist or like, as well as other factors such as scarcity.

And then there are special cover jobs, which don't feature the cover artist inside but I'll buy if the book at least seems to be interesting. So I'm a sucker for Neal Adams and Dave Stevens (arguably, the best artist I've seen when it comes to female rendering).

This

This is the only comic I have ever purchased because of a cover. And it was my intro to the series.

I agree with this statement 100%! There is a sad realization that there are people out there that buy books just to flip them and try to make profit.

I do that too when I see an opportunity, what's so sad about it? I pump all my ill-gotten gains back into my comic book kitty. It's fun when these things help pay for themselves.