I always assumed I was the only one to not be particularly impressed with the dungeonpunk art I'm seeing nowadays. My players lap it up, more with cries of 'Whoa!' or 'Cool!' when another completely nonsensical weapon is shown on some death-knight of some description.
And I'm a newish gamer.
I don't know what it is. I can recognise it for the work gone into it, I just can't seem to like the style overall. It's too.. punky for me.
Then, I often like my fantasy almost completely real anyway, to emphasize the fantasy part. The dungeonpunk doesn't show the magic as amazing; it does show how common to the 'ideal' D+D setting according though.
Hmm; I wonder. IF the original artwork was cartoony, was the action likewise? If the later art was more realistic, did the games reflect that? What does that imply for 3.5 D+D?
I suppose that would be hard to tell without a comprehensive study. Oh well.