Maybe it's because I'm less interested in the artists than most fans, but even where they're somehow redundant, I have to admit that I enjoy seeing the cards. In a process that often starts with an editor trying to weed out individual tendencies, moves through an unfeeling printing and distribution system, and then through scanners who try to extract themsevles from the process as much as possible (most of which, by the way, is to be applauded at how well it happens), the cards are an added human touch.
They're sort of the adult's version of a comic where someone has drawn a mustache on the female lead, I guess.
By the way, I love the cover's concern. Makes the debate over the Arizona immigration law seem trivial, in a world where women need to prove they're married to wear a wedding ring. Or maybe that's a railroad-themed singles bar, and those are two of the most aggressive drunks you're likely to meet--they'll shtare at her until she produches her papersh, or something...