Captain America, Falcon team up in Essential Captain America vol. 3

Four different writers take the helm during the run represented in ”Essential Captain America, Volume 3.”  The book reprints “Captain America” issues #127-56, originally published from 1970 to 1972.
Captain America is teamed up with the Falcon for most of this run, which was symbolically significant for the time.  The Falcon, created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan, had first appeared in issue #117 of Captain America in 1969, and was Marvel’s first African-American superhero.

The last of Stan Lee’s run on Captain America features SHIELD, Modok, AIM and the Red Skull.  Lee is followed by Gary Friedrich, who wrote many Marvel comics in the 1970s.    Friedrich sets up Captain America as a beat cop in his secret identity of Steve Rogers, while the Falcon gets more involved in Harlem, fighting slumlords and getting a girlfriend, Leila.