Like most masterworks volumes released since Cory Sedlmeier became the collection editor, this book is well up to standard. It has 12 issues excellently reproduced, an interesting 4 page introduction by John Romita, and a number of nice extras like a reprint annual cover, some house ads, and a full color cover "rough" by Romita.
Sedlmeier couldn't do much about the content, though. The early 1970s were rough patches for a lot of Marvel titles but usually there was one or two features that carried the book forward. That wasn't the case here.
The art is the strongest feature of the book but the inconsistent look because of Romita's many other duties pulling him away from the book begins to take its toll. Guest pencillers and inkers begin to come and go and there are indications of rush jobs on the issues from the middle of the book on.
The writing is completely uninspired as well. Plots are either downright absurd or suffer from being made up on the fly and resolved by pulling rabbits out of hats. Stan Lee had hit the wall at this point in his career and although Gary Friedrich takes over about halfway through this book very little in the way of improvement results.
Some books survived this kind of chaos by falling back on interactions between interesting supporting cast members. Captain America had little help here. The primary relationship between him and his partner at this time was racial tension. This is handled very crudely with all the subtlety of a grand piano dropped on the reader's head. Black characters are depicted as almost universally angry and ready to explode into violence at a moments notice. The sermonizing is fairly heavy handed.
Cap's other supporting cast is the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization which had been shoehorned into Cap's book after losing its own title. The book could have been accurately titled "Captain America, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." at this point. The presence of S.H.I.E.L.D. overshadows Cap and the Falcon and it works no better here than in their own book.
Cap's love life is ill served here as Sharon Carter is tied to S.H.I.E.L.D. as is Val, the long time agent Friedrich sets up to compete for Cap's attentions. The Falcon's romantic interest is more interesting - when she isn't calling him an Uncle Tom.
All in all, this book can only be recommended to those to whom it is no doubt intended - Marvel fans from way back, comfortable with the material's shortcomings. One gets the impression that the Captain America title would have been cancelled if not for its iconic lead.