I've said my piece on the Dark Sun 2E Expanded Edition already. I think it hits the points I wanted to make on the subject of content. However I was looking at the old 2E Expanded Edition books (as I have them all) and realized that not only was the content questionable, the art was atrocious. It was really really bad. The cover art pieces were disjointed compositions, whose figures look like they were traced from photos. The interior art was too plain, with the figures depicted looking like they were from any other fantasy world. Kind of like there were some left over "B" team art from the other TSR releases that they decided to throw in last minute.
It differed greatly from the previous work of Tom Baxa (who I've sent fan mail to years ago AND got a response back from him (which means he's awesome)) and Brom. Their work was edgy, vibrant, and looked different from the traditional fantasy art from other settings. It was this art that gave Dark Sun it's own unique flavor.
It is my fond hope that the art of the new 4E Dark Sun has the same edge and visual differences that made the original Dark Sun so endearing. Looking at the covers of the upcoming books it looks like they have that going for them. It also looks like they'll be employing the same artists they've been using for the other books and have therefore already proven themselves worthy.
