History Main / OneCastMemberPerCover

* The first ''Franchise/Serenity'' comic story, ''ComicBook/SerenityThoseLeftBehind'', had three issues with three variant covers each, each depicting one of the nine ''Serenity'' crew members: Mal, Jayne, Inara, Zoe, Kaylee, Book, Simon, Wash, and River.

* The first ''Franchise/Firefly'' comic story, ''ComicBook/SerenityThoseLeftBehind'', had three issues with three variant covers each, each depicting one of the nine ''Serenity'' crew members: Mal, Jayne, Inara, Zoe, Kaylee, Book, Simon, Wash, and River.

* The first ''ComicBook/{{Serenity}}'' comic story, ''Those Left Behind'', had three issues with three variant covers each, each depicting one of the nine ''Serenity'' crew members: Mal, Jayne, Inara, Zoe, Kaylee, Book, Simon, Wash, and River.

* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' does this with a little over half of its volumes, with the other half focusing on two or more characters. It also falls a bit into POVBoyPosterGirl since Shirogane doesn't appear on his own until volume 20 and Ishigami never appears by himself at all.
** The ''Official Doujinshi'' SpinOff also does this, though the final volume does show a second character's hands.

* The ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'' series has multiple [=DVDs=] whose covers each put one of the characters front and center, up to ''Miracle Friends''.
** ''GO-GO Tamagotchi!'' has multiple characters on the cover of each DVD. Since the first installment has 35 volumes, some characters are repeated in later covers.

* The UsefulNotes/Xbox360 version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' is split between three discs, all of which have a different character on them. The first has Lightning, the second is Snow and the third disc is Serah.
* The original release of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' did this as well. Disc 1 had an image of Squall on it, Disc 2 had Rinoa, Disc 3 had Seifer, and Disc 4 had Laguna. The in-game disc change prompts also usually followed this trope, usually showing an image of a single character standing in front of an abstract background; Squall for the "change to Disc 2" prompt, Rinoa for "change to disc 3", and Seifer for "change to disc 4". The "change to disc 1" image (seen if you try to start a new game or load a disc 1 save file with any other disc inserted) breaks the trend by showing Kiros and Ward alongside Laguna, as well as having a more detailed background (specifically, the interior of the Centra Excavation Site) and by having the trio striking an action pose with their weapons drawn.

* Every season of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' released on DVD featured one of the five team members.

* ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'' has done this with its covers from volumes 0 through 23 without reusing a character previously featured on a volume cover, with the exceptions of Mahito for the covers of volumes 6 and 15, and Geto for volumes 9 and 16: Yuta (volume 0), Yuji (volume 1), Megumi (volume 2), Nobara (volume 3), Gojo (volume 4), Todo (volume 5), Mahito (volume 6), Choso (volume 7), Toji (volume 8), Geto (volume 9), Mechamaru (volume 10), Nanami (volume 11), Mei Mei (volume 12), Kusakabe (volume 13), Sukuna (volume 14), Mahito (volume 15), Geto (volume 16), Naoya (volume 17), Hakari (volume 18), Higuruma (volume 19), Ishigori (volume 20), Kashimo (volume 21), Maki (volume 22) and Yuki (volume 23).

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'' always has two of the 100 girlfriends on the cover of a volume instead of just one -- the few exceptions so far being both of Kusuri's age selves in volume 3, the then-13 girlfriends posing as idols in volume 8, and the then-19 girlfriends posing in white dresses in volume 12 -- but otherwise it is an example of this trope. The two girls are usually in a similar pose holding each other (if not, one is carrying the other), and no girl appears on two covers.

* ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'' has done this with its covers from volumes 0 through 23, without reusing a character previously featured on a volume cover. With the exceptions of Mahito for the covers of volume 6 and 15, and Geto for volumes 9 and 16. With Yuta (volume 0), Yuji (volume 1), Megumi (volume 2), Nobara (volume 3), Gojo (volume 4), Todo (volume 5), Mahito (volume 6), Choso (volume 7), Toji (volume 8), Geto (volume 9), Mechamaru (volume 10), Nanami (volume 11), Mei Mei (volume 12), Kusakabe (volume 13), Sukuna (volume 14), Mahito (volume 15), Geto (volume 16), Naoya (volume 17), Hakari (volume 18), Higuruma (volume 19), Ishigori (volume 20), Kashimo (volume 21), Maki (volume 22) and Yuki (volume 23).

* When the members of Music/{{KISS}} decided to record [[Music/KISSSoloAlbums solo albums]] in 1978, it was arranged to have all four albums released on the same day (September 18, 1978), with each of the four covers featuring a solo illustration of its respective band member. The Music/{{Melvins}} released three solo [=EPs=] in 1992 as an homage, with the covers being portraits of each band member (at the time consisting of King Buzzo, Dale Crover and Joe Preston) done in a similar style to the KISS albums.

* When the members of Music/{{Kiss}} decided to record [[Music/KISSSoloAlbums solo albums]] in 1978, it was arranged to have all four albums released on the same day (September 18, 1978), with each of the four covers featuring a solo illustration of its respective band member.
** Music/{{Melvins}} released three solo [=EPs=] in 1992 as an homage, with the covers being portraits of each band member done in a similar style to the Kiss albums.

* ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'': An odd case of this trope occurs with the Swedish editions of the original ''Literature/TheSwordOfShannaraTrilogy''. Those editions, instead of using the original cover art, made use of the art from ''The Wishsong of Shannara'' and split it up into three with each release then focusing on a single character. This has the effect of none of the characters who show up on the cover for the first two books even showing up in the story. The later releases just used the regular English art, averting this trope.

* ''Literature/PrincessesOfThePizzaParlor'': There's two patterns to the series, one after the other:
** Each of the first seven Episodes' covers have one player and their respective game character [[BackToBackPoster presented back-to-back on the cover]]. The player character pairs by book are: Helen-Gwenevrael, Shelby-Selvi, Natalie-Isabel, Claire-Cassandrella, Tim-Dell, Cynthia-Flora, and Katelyn-Bianca.
** From the eighth Episode on, each cover features a new game character partnered with the game character from the first pattern. The eighth and ninth books are: Gwenevrael paired with Ouragonea, and Selvi paired with Sally Slickskin.

* ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'': The 2015 covers depict a different main character on each of the six books: Jace on ''City of Bones'' Clary on ''City of Ashes'', Simon on ''City of Glass'', Isabelle of ''City of Fallen Angels'', Alec on ''City of Lost Souls'' and Sebastian on ''City of Heavenly Fire''. The spines of the books also depict different characters and each of them forms part of a larger illustration.

* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': Each cover of the manga's volumes has a different cast member sitting down on a chair. The style of the chair and the objects surrounding it are used to show that character's personality. The DVD/Blu-ray covers follow suit, with each having a cast member facing front in the same order as the manga covers.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}} (1991)'': The Amazon.com on demand DVD box sets had a different character on the cover for each season it had. Season 1 had Tommy Pickles, Season 2 had Chuckie Finster, Season 3 had Angelica Pickles, Season 4 had Susie Carmichael, Season 5 had Dil Pickles (which is particularly odd since he was introduced in [[WesternAnimation/TheRugratsMovie the first movie]], just after the fifth season and before the sixth), Season 6 had Lil [=DeVille=], Season 7 had Phil [=DeVille=], Season 8 had Kimi Watanabe-Finster, and Season 9 had Reptar. The Paramount re-issues of the first four seasons retain the designs with Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and Susie.

** {{Melvins}} released three solo [=EPs=] in 1992 as an homage, with the covers being portraits of each band member done in a similar style to the Kiss albums.

* ''Literature/CinnamonBun'': Each cover shows the top of a character's head, from about the eyes up. Volume 1 shows Broccoli, Volume 2 shows Amaryllis, volume 3 shows Awen and Volume 4 shows Bastion. Despite showing so little of the characters, the cover of volume 1 still manages to contain a spoiler, [[spoiler: picturing Broccoli with rabbit ears that she does not obtain until volume 2]].

* ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'': And odd case of this trope occurs with the Swedish editions of the original ''Literature/TheSwordOfShannaraTrilogy''. Those editions, instead of using the original cover art, made use of the art from ''The Wishsong of Shannara'' and split it up into three with each release then focusing on a single character. This has the effect of of none of the characters who show up on the cover for the first two books to not even show up in the story. The later releases just used the regular English art, averting this trope.

* ''Literature/{{Shannara}}: And odd case of this trope occurs with the Swedish editions of the original ''Literature/TheSwordOfShannaraTrilogy''. Those editions, instead of using the original cover art, made use of the art from ''The Wishsong of Shannara'' and split it up into three with each release then focusing on a single character. This has the effect of of none of the characters who show up on the cover for the first two books to not even show up in the story. The later releases just used the regular English art, averting this trope.

* ''Manga/WitchHatAtelier'' has this as well. Nearly ever volume features a different character on ''both'' the front cover and back cover. The only exceptions are the characters from Quifrey's atelier such as Coco and Argott.

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'' always has two of the 100 girlfriends on the cover of a volume instead of just one -- the few exceptions so far being both of Kusuri's age selves in volume 3, the then-13 girlfriends posing as idols in volume 8, and the then-19 girlfriends posing in white dresses in volume 12 -- but otherwise it is an example of this trope. The two girls are always in a similar pose, holding each other and no girl appears on two covers.

* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'': Every volume cover has a different member of the main cast. Originally, volumes with odd numbers feature a character of Team Moriarty while even numbers feature one of Team Holmes. For example, William is on Volume 1 and Sherlock is on Volume 2. This breaks in later volumes, as far more people are on William's team than Sherlock's, so team Moriarty features on most of the teen covers, and ''both'' Sherlock and William are on the cover volume 19, finally breaking the pattern.

* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'': Every volume cover has a different member of the main cast. Originally, volumes with odd numbers feature a character of Team Moriarty while even numbers feature one of Team Holmes. For example, William is on Volume 1 and Sherlock is on Volume 2. This breaks in later volumes, as far more people are on William's team than Sherlock's, so team Moriarty features on most of the teen covers.

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'' always has two of the 100 girlfriends on the cover instead of just one -- the few exceptions so far being both of Kusuri's age selves in volume 3 and the then-13 girlfriends posing as idols in volume 8 --, but otherwise it is an example of this trope. The two girls are always in a similar pose, holding each other and no girl appears on two covers.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has a different character on the cover of each collected volume -- except Ichigo and Rukia in the final, 74th volume --, sometimes just a face and sometimes in an action pose but always against a blank background. Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Uryu, Byakuya, Zangetsu, Renji, Aizen, Gin, Shinji, Ulquiora, Grimmjow & Yamamoto have had the distinction of more than one cover (Ichigo has 4 total; 1, 19, 49 & 74, Rukia has 3; 2, 54, 74).

* Both ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' and its sequel, ''Fruits Basket Another'' do this for the manga volumes. In ''Fruits Basket'', the first fifteen volumes show Tohru and the Sohma members of the Zodiac, while volumes 16-23 feature normal humans who are either close friends or relatives of the main characters. In ''Another'', every volume cover has a main character on them, with Sawa on Volume 1, Mutsuki on Volume 2, Hajime on Volume 3, and Shiki on Volume 4.

* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'':Every volume cover has a different member of the main cast. Originally, volumes with odd numbers feature a character of Team Moriarty while even numbers feature one of Team Holmes. For example, William is on Volume 1 and Sherlock is on Volume 2. This breaks in later volumes, as far more people are on William's team than Sherlock's, so team Moriarty features on most of the teen covers.

* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': Each cover of the manga's volumes has a different cast member sitting down on a chair. The style of the chair and the objects surrounding it are used to show that character's personality.

* ''Literature/PrincessesOfThePizzaParlor'': There's at two patterns to the series, one after the other
** Each of the first seven Episodes' covers are BackToBackPoster-s featuring one players and their respective game characters presented back-to-back on the cover. The player character pairs by book, are: Helen-Gwenevrael, Shelby-Selvi, Natalie-Isabel, Claire-Cassandrella, Tim-Dell, Cynthia-Flora, and Katelyn-Bianca.
** From the eighth Episode on, each cover features a new game character with partnered with the game character from the first pattern. The eighth and ninth books are: Gwenevrael, paired with Ouragonea, and Selvi paired with Sally Slickskin.

* The 11-CD edition of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' 50th anniversary soundtrack compilation dedicates each disc to music and sound effects from one of the eleven mainline Doctors' eras. Appropriately, the sleeve and label for each disc features a silhouette of the Doctor that it corresponds to.

* ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'' The label of disc 1 has a render of Guybrush, while disc 2 has a render of Elaine.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}} (1991)'': The Amazon.com on demand DVD box sets had one different character on the cover for each season it had. Season 1 had Tommy Pickles, Season 2 had Chuckie Finster, Season 3 had Angelica Pickles, Season 4 had Susie Carmichael, Season 5 had Dil Pickles (which is particularly odd since he was introduced in [[WesternAnimation/TheRugratsMovie the first movie]], just after the fifth season and before the sixth), Season 6 had Lil [=DeVille=], Season 7 had Phil [=DeVille=], Season 8 had Kimi Watanabe-Finster, and Season 9 had Reptar. The Paramount re-issues of the first four seasons retain the designs with Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and Susie.

In a long-running series it can sometimes be difficult to come up with new covers that are all distinct but clearly related to each other. One common strategy is to draw a
different character on the cover of each volume. The first few volumes will usually show the main heroes and villains of the series, with supporting characters
appearing on later covers. The covers may show only the current character's face or the character in some sort of action pose, but they will seldom show a scene
from the story. While a character may appear on the cover of the volume where they are first introduced it is not uncommon for the character on the cover to play a small role in the story of the volume, or even not appear at all in the story. If the series continues long enough the illustrator might be forced to reuse characters but very rarely will the same character appear on the cover of consecutive volumes. If the point-of-view character varies from volume to volume often the point-of-view character for a volume will also be the one on the cover.

* ''Anime/{{Bleach}}'' has a different character on the cover of each collected volume -- except Ichigo and Rukia in the final, 74th volume --, sometimes just a face and sometimes in an action pose but always against a blank background. Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Uryu, Byakuya, Zangetsu, Renji, Aizen, Gin, Shinji, Ulquiora, Grimmjow & Yamamoto have had the distinction of more than one cover (Ichigo has 4 total; 1, 19, 49 & 74, Rukia has 3; 2, 54, 74).

* Both ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' and its sequel, ''Fruits Basket Another''. In ''Fruits Basket'', the first fifteen volumes show Tohru and the Sohma members of the Zodiac, while volumes 16-23 feature normal humans who are either close friends or relatives of the main characters. In ''Another'', every volume cover has a main character on them, with Sawa on Volume 1, Mutsuki on Volume 2, Hajime on Volume 3, and Shiki on Volume 4.

* ''Anime/MyHime'''s manga played this straight for the first three volumes, with Mai on vol. 1, Natsuki on vol. 2, and Mikoto on vol.3. Volumes 4 & 5 feature multiple characters.

* ''Anime/SpyXFamily'': Each cover has a different cast member sitting down on a chair. The style of the chair and the objects surrounding it are used to show that character's personality.

* The US publications for Literature/TheStormlightArchive books feature one of the main focus characters of the series on each cover.

* ''Anime/SpyXFamily'': Each cover has a different cast member sitting down on a chair. The style the chair and the objects surrounding it are used to show that character's personality.