I actually quite like this cover. It's fun, and although I agree that it's not very VP, to be honest recently whenever Carine does do her signature thing recently it's a little boring. Alot of people complain when we see typical cover subjects (Lara, Daria) with typical themes (sex basically) so it's quite refreshing to see something new. And it still has that token VP sense of humour and irreverence, so I'm perfectly happy.
That said, I too would've liked to have seen Raquel. I can only hope that they're saving her up for something big. A December/January guest editor position is probably wishful thinking, seeing as they seem to prefer people that the public would be more aware of, but one can dream...