Steranko began working at Marvel in the late 1960s, having gained a profile as a popular illustrator and comic book artist on the basis of his avant-garde and surrealist art style.

In developing his run on Captain America, Steranko sought to reverse what he saw as deviations from the World War II-era story formulas that had initially generated acclaim and popularity for the character.

His run is distinguished by its use of a cinematically influenced aesthetic, characterized by heavy use of answering shots, pan and tracking sequences, dramatic lighting, and reaction inserts.

Shortly thereafter, Jones experiences a violent psychedelic hallucination after he picks up a letter from Hydra laced with a psychoactive gas intended for Captain America.

Captain America was revived as a standalone ongoing comic book in 1968, following a five-year period in which stories starring the title character were published in the anthology series Tales of Suspense.

[1] The revival was initially written and edited by Stan Lee with art by Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby, both of whom had authored stories featuring the character dating back to the 1940s.

[1] Many of the comics in Lee and Kirby's revival of Captain America were referential to the character's roots as a patriotic World War II-era superhero; stories featured, for example, an Adolf Hitler impersonator and the Nazi villain Red Skull as antagonists.

had elevated that title from a "second-tier strip into a fan favourite", and that Lee "clearly hoped that Steranko would bring a fresh feel to Captain America's adventures, too".

[1] Beyond Steranko, creative staff for "The Strange Death of Captain America" included Joe Sinnott and Tom Palmer as inkers, and Sam Rosen and Artie Simek as letterers.

[2] The centerspread in the run's final issue was penciled, inked, lettered, and colored by Steranko, and was the first time that Marvel had published a spread that had been fully illustrated and formatted in this manner by a single individual.

[9][10] Steranko has subsequently downplayed Lee's involvement and expressed frustration over not receiving full authorship credit for "The Strange Death of Captain America", as this has impacted his royalty payments for reprints of the story arc.

[10] Captain America's questioning of his place in the world as a 'man out of time' would quickly return as a recurring plot and thematic element of the series, contrasting Steranko's desire to position the character as a more iconoclastic and mythic figure.

[1][2] Comics scholar Ben Saunders writes that its contemporary artwork belies its status as "an essentially nostalgic approach to the character and concept",[7] representing "the last serious effort to revive the World War II formula that first established the character as a national icon–the last attempt to present Captain America as an uncomplicated symbol of the American fighting spirit, without qualms or misgivings, and mercifully free of psychological trauma".