I find the fact that anyone would dislike it being based off America silly, all of the rest were based off Japan; and the Japanese had no problem with that. I would personally find it rather wondrous if I could see the hudson river and think I caught a Basaurao in there. America hardly gets everything period, and it was obvious that America would be the next place they would go instead of Japan, its also directly to the east of Japan, which makes it even easier to understand.
The "new pokemon" appears to be a Shikijika summer evolution, or just another pose of the summer forme; notice that its on the same page as Shikijika, and that all of the other pages are of the same pokemon or evolution line.
Anyway, still find all of the art very nice; zekrom specifically, makes me like it even more.