What kind of cover works best for a gag-a-day comic? (also requesting feedback on my cover)

[But_a_Jape]

I've never been satisfied with my cover - I literally just threw it together in a few minutes because I didn't realize Tapas required cover art at the time - but considering my comic is a gag-a-day with no overarching theme, I've had difficulty trying to come up with an alternative. What I do know is that my current cover isn't especially eyecatching, I've even missed it multiple times while scrolling through the comics listing ("What the-? Is my comic really so unpopular that I have to scroll so far to find it?").

So I'd like to know, for those of you familiar with other gag comics, what are some examples of good covers for this genre? What catches your eye?

Also, if any of you are familiar with my comic, what do you think would work well for it specifically? Someone else suggested a "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" style cover where I incorporate various characters from my individual strips, but that sounds like a hefty amount of work and planning, especially if I'm not certain I'll be satisfied with the end result.

Lastly, I have a pending idea for an updated cover and would like some feedback. Below are my current cover, and the proposed alternative:

Current:

Alternative:

Thanks for the feedback!

[CarltonIsaac]

A lot more fun, like this
-

[Kelheor]

The first one looks like it's about a sad killer. The second one looks like it's about a sad barber.
I would expect something more...fun from a gag comic I guess

[TheGentleArtist]

I like the current. The current one looks like he is going through a mid-life crisis

[But_a_Jape]

Yeah, I was worried without context the image might be hard to interpret, so I wasn't too sure how audiences would respond to it. Here's the comic I took the image from for context:

Personally, I just like the idea of someone gazing regretfully at their self-done haircut, but I understand that others might not pick up the meaning from the picture alone. I at least thought the art style was goofy enough that it would be seen as lighthearted, though.

[drcharlotterodricks]

Would it be possible to make his hair look more awful???

[But_a_Jape]

A very simple but effective solution, I hadn't considered that! I didn't make it too bad in the original comic because 1) It was autobiographical and I was trying to make it look accurate to how I actually cut it in real life and 2) I wanted the reader to at least consider that Blue's opinion ("It's actually not as bad as I was expecting") could be genuine and not complete denial. But in terms of adapting the image for the cover, making the hair look obviously bad might illustrate the meaning more clearly, thanks for the input.

Though I am still worried at the potential interpretation of the image as something darker than it actually is (e.g. "This guy's going through some serious issues and it's manifesting into cutting off all his hair").

[drcharlotterodricks]

Not all.let me see how to explain it...okay when I was younger & dumb..I couldnt explain to the stylist about the fringe i wanted...Long story short she cut off more than necessary and I had an awkward mushroom monk style fringe I changed stylists after that.This was 10 years ago.