Michele, you are going to be awfully disappointed in me because I, sadly, know nothing about Fringe. Not to mention that Joshua Jackson makes my skin crawl. But after reading your post, it sounds to me like most of those spin-offs are just ways to make more money for The Man. I can't even really speak to the design of the covers because again, I'm a failure and haven't seen the show. I do think that the covers suggest Sci-fi, but beyond that, I don't get the symbolism.
I'm really interested to hear what other people have to say because I cannot think of a TV series that spurred a book like your Fringe example. I do know that a lot of shows, especially back in the 50s and 60s came out with accompanying comic books. I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show are two that come to mind.
