Re: Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
Yeah, putting that aside though, I like some of Millar's stuff, particularly the Authority, but I don't think he likes his Cap, and really, I think he has an anti-U.S. thing that seeps into those comics that I don't care for when you're talking Avengers, and not some newly created team (even though the Authority was a pretty thinly veiled version of the Justice League). That was part of the Authority, which seemed to be a bit of a riff on the logical extension of U.S. global policing efforts. Toward this end, he makes Cap a bit of an *******, saying things that are not Cap-like because I think Millar saw the U.S. as a kind of unrefined bully, and that's not Cap to me.
The Brubaker run is very good, but it's not nearly my favorite Cap stuff. I would personally suggest going back to the Dematteis run from the late '70s-early '80s, as that is my favorite Cap run I've read. He portrayed Cap as a bit conflicted at times, dealing with a post-Watergate and Vietnam type world while still representing the fundamental U.S. values that he symbolizes. But overall they're just classic, straightforward, well told comic stories, that don't feel the need to be dark and gritty for the sake of being dark and gritty, which we see a lot of nowadays. When they were that way, it was for the purpose of making a point about poverty, drug use, exploitation, etc. Plus, a lot of those comics have art from Mike Zeck--one of the most iconic comic artists there ever was.
And then, there are lots of Avengers stories with Cap that are quite good, starting with Avengers 4 of the original Lee/Kirby run, and going through the second incarnation of the team with Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Quicksilver. It becomes hit-and-miss, but much of that is good reading. Funny seeing Cap acting nutty about Rick Jones as a substitute for Bucky back in the day. But reading that may help folks to better understand how important Buck was to him.
LOL
I also enjoyed the Busiek/Perez Avengers run from the late '90s or early 2000s, which had Cap leading the team.