If, like me, you are a Trek fan, you know of the controversy around this story. For the uninitiated, Ellison wrote a story for the original series that was so re-written, in a fashion that he hated, that he tried to distance himself from it, and even initiated a lawsuit over it. The revised story, which aired, has won awards and is frequently a fan favorite. Ellison hates it. This version is the one he originally wrote, published by IDW Comics as a five part graphic novel and collected here into one hardcover volume. 
 After all the fuss over it all these years, I had high expectations for the story. I'm sorry to say that it didn't live up to them. It's a decent story but I can see why it was changed. Certain aspects, such as the love story between Kirk and Edith Keeler, a human woman, are still there and not too different, while other key pieces are vastly different. I've read that Ellison intended to take on the subject of drug abuse (remember, this fuss happened in the early 60s) but that gets short shrift. Oh, we have drug addiction in the story but it quickly gets shoved aside for time travel, romance, some action, a taste of philosophy, and a nod to war vets. I liked the latter touch and wish that had been explored more. Moreover, Spock has far less control of his emotions than he did in the series at the time; most illogical. 
 The artwork is well done though the first few pages of my eGalley were fuzzy but then that cleared up. It's clear that the artists had no problem referring to the aired episode for reference and for detail. The dialogue balloons on some pages were poorly placed, making the conversations confusing at times. Overall though, the artwork and layout are well-done and the story, while not great, is good. I enjoyed seeing the differences and similarities in the different versions of the story. After finishing the ARC, I re-watched the TV version. It's too bad that this version doesn't live up to its hype.