Don't get me wrong...

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I truly appreciate what Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did for the world of comics. However, Kirby's artwork has never really flipped my waffle, and Lee tends to get redundant with his characters (as witnessed in nearly all Volume 2's of the Essential series).
Somehow, Jim Steranko's artwork does something to Lee's words though. It is so powerful that I felt I was reading something from the 80's grim and gritty era, and Captain America became more human.
Gene Colan's artwork is very different from Steranko's, but it also adds a fluidity to the stories that somehow I don't think Kirby's art would have done.
This is definitely superior to Volume 1 of CA and well worth a ticket.

Volume 2: The final Kirby, the few Steranko, the first Colan

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Apparently Brad Pitt has agreed to play Captain American in a movie that wil start filming next year, so it is time for Steve Rogers to get the summer blockbuster movie treatment. If the people writing the script or Cap's fans want to check out the glory days of the character Volume 2 of the "Essential Captain America" would be a good place to start because it contains both the final issues of "Captain America" drawn by Jack Kirby, the definitive Captain America artist for many, and the three striking issues drawn by Jim Steranko. Ironically, while the names of Kirby and Steranko, along with writer Stan Lee, appear on the cover of the book, it is penciller Gene Colan who draws over half the issues (#103-126 of "Captain America") collected in Volume 2.

The three main storylines of note in this collection are the Lee-Kirby epic where Cap and Shield take on the Red Skull and his Nazi minions, the Steranko issues where Rick Jones becomes a temporary sidekick and Cap regains his secret identity, and the Lee-Colan storyline where the Red Skull swaps places with Cap courtesy of the Cosmic Cube and the strip introduces the Falcoln in an effort to make the comic more relevant. There is also a complete issues devoted by Lee & Kirby to the origin of Captain America and one in which Cap is captured while in Vietnam. Of course, in the years ahead the Falcoln would become Captain America's partner and his name would become part of the title for the comic book.

I prefer these issues of "Captain America" much more than the "Tales of Suspense" days when the stories were ten page installments that cut off the story just as it was getting interesting (i.e., "to be continued"). It is not surprising that the art work is more impressive than the stories, because Kirby was arguably at his peak at this point: most of his issues start with splash pages of Cap bigger than life and in action. Steranko experiments with the comic book form, having pages with over a dozen panels, panels with multiple images of the same characters, and page without panels that are clearly influenced by the art of Salvadore Dali. Why more would you want for 12 cents? No wonder the issue of "Captain America" #111 was appropriated for the cover of this trade paperback. Colan might only finishing the show position in this collection, but he brings the same sort of fluidity to his artwork that he did with "Daredevil" and "Tomb of Dracula." Three different styles each working to tell the story of Captain America, "Living Legend of World War II."

You Should Get This Book Just For The Artwork

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Some of the best artists in the history of comics: Jack Kirby,Jim Steranko, Gene Colan,and others; are represented here with some of their finest work. Some of the issues reprinted sell for a higher price for that very reason. Stan Lee wrote all the stories(1968-1970)sticking with this title after he reliquished others he had created; his dramatic portayal demonstrates the genuine affection he had for the character. In this volume, he also creates the Falcon, who was the second black super-hero, the first African-American super-hero, and still one of the best super-heroes.

Second Volume: Top-Notch Comics, Dull White Paper

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I liked this second Essential Captain America volume a lot better than the first. I think the 20-page story format (introduced in the late 60s when the strip switched from TALES OF SUSPENSE to CAPTAIN AMERICA) gives the stories more elbow room than the 10-page chapters I suffered through in the previous volume. The narrative approach in this one is much more visual and less wordy. The pacing is smoother. And the stories have a bit more complexity to them beyond Captain America kicking ... out of the Red Skull and Batroc while lecturing them on the virtues of Truth, Justice, Determination, and so forth (although there's still a fair amount of that here (it's Captain America, after all)).

I don't think more than a few stories in this 500+ page volume have been reprinted anywhere before; not in the Marvel Masterworks format and not in the 70's era MARVEL DOUBLE FEATURE reprint comic I read sometimes as a kid. So this is 99% new material for the majority of us (unless you actually have some of the original comics).

A common complaint with the Marvel Essentials books has to do with the black-and-white format. While most of the artwork here looks pretty good in black and white (particularly the fluid, eyeball-soothing Gene Colan work that dominates the second half of the book), I've noticed that over the last year or so Marvel has changed the paper they use on this series from a bright white color to a dull white or light gray. Black-and-white reprinting of color comics is usually acceptable to me, but black-and-light-gray reprinting really begins to push the envelope. Since the Essentials volumes are still the best value (per pound) in comicbook reprints, I suppose I shouldn't critique this one point too much. But I recommend using a strong light.

Not enough Kirby

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The first four stories are illustrated by Jack Kirby. John Buscema and John Romita Sr. who illustrate one story each. The other contributions by Steranko, Kane and others are decent, but not remarkable. The writing is spare and often insultingly weak, but the marketplace was aiming at 12 year olds in those days after all.

Kirby's art is the real reason to buy this volume. His characters have incredible power and virtually jump off the page. If you're a Kirby fan check out "The Jack Kirby Collector" in tabloid size at your local comic store (there are like 35 issues so far).