The first issue's cover would have featured an unidentified superhero punching out Osama bin Laden, much as Captain America punched out Hitler in his (Captain America's) first cover experience. The first issue was meant for Free Comic Book Day, meaning that it literally became a book that its publisher, CrossGen, could not give away. It was 2004, and CrossGen was struggling for cash: its latest investor declined to support this project for reasons we don't know. However, we can guess. The writer of American Power, Chuck Dixon, is a staunch conservative who has criticized comics culture's relative liberalism. How Regrettable Is Its Loss? Not very. Artist Greg Land was at his most photo-referenced during this period, and while Dixon had written plenty of good comics, American Power didn't show signs of being one of them.