Wilma Deering

Wilma Deering is a fictional character featured in the various iterations of Buck Rogers which have spanned many media over the years. Through all the versions of Buck Rogers, Wilma Deering has maintained some clear characteristics. She is a sometimes-romantic interest for Buck, always a loyal defender of Earth, and an attractive and smart woman. She is generally depicted as brave with a penchant for getting herself into trouble. As with other science fiction heroines from the pulp science fiction genre and others, she has sometimes been depicted as a damsel in distress but more often as an assertive adventurer. In this way, her character resembles that of Dale Arden of the Flash Gordon comic books and movie serials, and also the character Lois Lane from Superman. Pulp origins Wilma Deering appears in the very first Buck Rogers story, the novella Armageddon 2419 A.D. (1928), and the basic elements are present. She is depicted as adventurous, heroic and beautiful, and a romantic interest for the hero. Comic strip Wilma features in the Buck Rogers comic strip from its inception, as she is the first person of Earth to meet Buck when he awakens in the 25th century. Depicted from the start as a love interest, Wilma is initially almost a stock character heroine just as Dr. Elias Huer is a stock "brainy scientist". However, her character does develop over time into the more familiar spunky adventurer.