Commander William Riker — formerly of the Enterprise — will take his shirt off and ride a horse in a new Star Trek comic book series, and this time, he’ll be fighting a revolution against Romulans occupying an alternate universe version of Earth.
In March 2017, IDW will publish Star Trek: Deviations which is all about an alternate universe where the Romulans made first contact with Earth instead of the Vulcans. As such, humanity is totally subjugated. Several centuries later, to help make the humans of Earth roam free, William T. Riker is leading a guerrilla war against the occupying Romulans; he’s on horseback, with the help of an alternate Geordi, Worf, and Troi, and totally without a shirt.
Star Trek comics are no stranger to offering odd, new alternate realities, but between the incoming sleeveless mirror-universe Captain Picard and the franchise crossover with the Aliens universe, this zany alternate dimension kick seems a little like a growing fetish.
'Star Trek: Deviations' from IDW comics. (Note: shirtless Riker on the far left) Art by Josh Hood
In the shirtless Riker department though, Star Trek has been severely lacking. Other than his famous get-up in the episode “Angel One,” Riker didn’t take his shirt off much on The Next Generation, accept when he got hurt and went to sickbay.
In terms of unique alternate universes focusing on one event in future history, this is has happened before. The Star Trek: Enterprise two-part episode established that the original mirror universe happened because when humans had first contact with the Vulcans, they killed the friendly aliens instead of helping them.
