'Final Crisis' Sketchbook

I just finished thumbing through the "Final Crisis Sketchbook" drawn by JG Jones with captions by Grant Morrison, and three major things jumped out at me.

1) Mister Miracle in the sketchbook is Shiloh Norman, not Scott Free. Further, Big Barda is nowhere to be seen. As a big fan of both characters, I'm going to be pretty disappointed if this duo does not come back as New New Gods, especially given the inauspicious deaths they both shared in the "Death of the New Gods" series.

2) Half of this sketchbook is devoted to the Japanese heroes we saw back in "52" ... at least I'm pretty sure these are the same guys we saw in "52." Now, on the one hand, maybe they are only included in here since nobody knows these guys and Morrison needed some small introduction for them. BUT, I just hope this group doesn't show up too much in "Final Crisis," and the amount of space occupied here would dictate they play a major role.

3) There are notes in the margins of some of the sketches, including the new look for Darkseid (which I like). One of these notes reads "No Shadow. He Is The Shadow." THAT'S how EVIL Darkseid is. I love it. It's like that line from Justice League Unlimited where Flash's brain is stuck in Lex Luthor's body: "Aren't you going to wash your hands?" "No... Because I'm EVIL."

Anyway, I don't know if the sketchbook is worth three bucks, but there are interesting aspects to it.