I like the lack of clutter from the logo and whatnot. Love that ampersand. Love the beholder and what I can make of the dwarf underneath it. He seems to have a nice hammer and appropriate armor. Glad to see a demi-human featured. Not sure if that's a female in front, who seems to be wearing some form of turban and yelling "Avengers Assemble" to the rest of the party. As was said, the picture's a bit blurry so more will be revealed. There's a bat flying about up above the statue arm, maybe it's a familiar. The lightning blasts are really chaotic. Are they emanating from the beholder's eyes?
Have to admit, the 1E covers are so engrained in my mind that nothing else takes their place in my mind when I think of Dungeons and Dragons hardcovers. So ideally I'd like a double-paged spread showing various adventurers traipsing through a scrolling environment and encountering different beasties one of which must be a Roper who appears to be a moss covered cat turd. If I ranked the cover art alone, I'd say:
1) 1E, the classic cover
2) 4E, giant Orcus. Really liked that one.
3) 1E, Easley.
4) 2E, the Monstrous Manual.
5) 3E & 3.5E, the Higginbotham covers. Nothing against the guy and his work, I just prefer drawings instead of the "faux ancient tome" look.
I'll wait til I have 5E in hand before adjusting the ranks.
