ELAINE ANN WALTERS

Real Name: Elaine Ann Banner Walters

Identity/Class: Human/Astral Spirit

Occupation: Homemaker and Housewife

Group Membership: None, possibly the local Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Nicholas Trask and his criminal organization

Known Relatives: Morris Walters (husband), Jennifer (daughter, alias the She-Hulk), Brian (brother, deceased), Rebecca (sister-in-law, deceased), Bruce (nephew, alias the Hulk), Cassandra Walters-Pike (sister-in-law), David Pike (nephew, alias Brawn)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: (formerly) Los Angeles, California, (currently) The Afterlife

First Appearance: (name) Savage She-Hulk#15 (April, 1981), (actual) Sensational She-Hulk#53 (June, 1993)

Powers/Abilities: In life, Elaine Walters possessed the normal human strength level of a woman of her size, height and build who engages in extensive physical activities. As a spirit, she has the normal conventional attributes of an astral spirit (ghost) which has passed into a higher plane of existence.

History: Sensational She-Hulk#53 (fb)) - Elaine Ann Walters was the wife of Sheriff Morris Walters of Los Angeles, California and the mother of Jennifer Walters, the future She-Hulk. As a teenager, Jennifer had decided on a dancing career, but Morris tried to steer her to a life in law enforcement. Elaine chided him for trying to guide Jen's life and told him to allow her to choose her own life.

(Savage She-Hulk#4 (fb), Sensational She-Hulk#53 (fb)) - Mobster Nicholas Trask made arrangements to have Sheriff Walters killed. His men redirected a drunk driver in his car, not realizing Walters' wife was at the steering wheel. While driving to a dance recital Jennifer was attending, Elaine and two female friends commented about Morris not attending the recital, when without notice a car veered straight into their path.

(Savage She-Hulk#4 (fb)) - Mobster Nicholas Trask sent a condescending red rose to Sheriff Walters at his wife's funeral.

(Savage She-Hulk#15 (fb)) - After Elaine's death, Walters moved out of the family home and into a condo, eventually leaving the house to Jennifer.

(Savage She-Hulk#1 (fb) - BTS) - From the afterlife, Elaine watched events unfold as Jennifer became the She-Hulk  for the first time following a blood transfusion with her cousin Bruce Banner, the Incredible Hulk. 

(Savage She-Hulk#18 - BTS) - Memories of Elaine plied Walters' conscience as he considered selling the family home out from under Jennifer's possession.

(Savage She-Hulk#25 -BTS) - Sheriff Walters realized that his wife's death had forced both him and Jennifer to retreat to an obsession for law and justice. 

(Sensational She-Hulk#53) - In the afterlife, Elaine Walters observed Jennifer in battle as the She-Hulk with the Green Goblin and made contact with her. She told her that she and Jennifer's friend Jill (who had died several years before at the hands of Trask's men) didn't hold her responsible for their deaths. Elaine told her daughter that she was proud for all she had accomplished as the She-Hulk.

 (Sensational She-Hulk#54) - Elaine gave Jennifer a necklace and discovered that she had not made her peace with death. The She-Hulk's out-of-body experience with her mother came to an end as she was yanked back to life through the efforts of Dr. Daniel "Zapper" Ridge Jr. restoring her to life with increased dosages of gamma radiation.

Comments: Created by David Anthony Kraft, Michael Vosburgh and D. Hands

In the beginning, Jennifer's mother's name was Ann (Savage She-Hulk#15), changed to Elaine (Savage She-Hulk#12) and reverted back to Ann (Savage She-Hulk#25), but it's given as Elaine in the She-Hulk entry in OHOTMU Deluxe Edition#18. 

In the original series, Elaine's death was caused by an underworld hit on Sheriff Walters by Nicholas Trask gone wrong, but like so many facts and aspects from the beginning, this fact was forgotten and her accident was changed and blamed on a drunk driver. Conceivably, Trask's hit men might have veered her into the path of the drunk driver in order to stage an "accident." 

In the OHOTMU II #18 profile for the She-Hulk, it's revealed that the Banners are her mother's family. This is confirmed in the OHOTMU Master Edition profile for the Hulk which mentions Elaine's maiden name as Banner.

Jen's surreal ordeal with her mother in the afterlife could almost be written off as a hallucination if but for the necklace she brings back.

Sidebar, the Green Goblin that fights the She-Hulk in the afterlife has to be Dr. Bart Hamilton since Norman Osborn is still alive and Harry Osborn would have likely discarded that personality after his death. Hamilton is possibly the Green Goblin in the Legion of the Unliving II.

Profile by: WillU

CLARIFICATIONS: Elaine Walters is not to be confused with:  

  • Elaine Benes, Jerry Seinfeld's old girlfriend played by Julia Louise Dreyfuss, TV's "Seinfeld," NBC-TV 
  • Elaine Vassal, over-sexed judicial assistant at Cage, Fish and Associates law firm played by Jane Krakowski, TV's "Ally McBeal," FOX TV
  • or any other "Elaine"

Images:

body - Sensational She-Hulk#53, page 28, top left

w/ Jen - Sensational She-Hulk#53, page 28, top left

headshot - Savage She-Hulk#25, page 16, top left


Issues:
Savage She-Hulk#4 (May, 1980) - David Kraft (writer), Mike Vosburg (pencils), Chic Stone (inks), Mary Jo Duffy & Al Milgrom (#3) (editors)
Savage She-Hulk#15 (April, 1981) - David Kraft (writer), Mike Vosburg (pencils), Frank Springer (inks), Mary Jo Duffy (editor)
Savage She-Hulk#18 (July, 1981) - David Kraft (writer), Mike Vosburg (pencils), Frank Springer (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Savage She-Hulk#25 (February, 1982) - David Kraft (writer), Mike Vosburg (pencils), Al Milgrom, Sal Trapani, Mike Vosburg, Rick Magyar, Mike Gustovich, Dave Simons, Steve Mitchell, Bob Wiacek, Joe Rubinstein & Jack Abel (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Sensational She-Hulk#53 (June, 1993) - Michael Eury (writer), Darren Auck (pencils), Mike DeCarlo (inks), Renee Witterstaetter (editor)
Sensational She-Hulk#54 (July, 1993) - Michael Eury (writer), Patrick Olliffe (pencils), Dave Cockrum (inks), Renee Witterstaetter (editor)


First Posted: 06/26/2006
Last updated: 06/25/2006

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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