Maddie Blaustein, 1960-2008
Maddie Blaustein, known to a generation as the voice of Pokémon’s nemesis Meowth, passed away at age 48. Aaron McQuade said she died in her sleep after a brief, undisclosed illness.
Born Adam Blaustein, she broke into the comics field as Jim Owsley’s editorial assistant at Marvel Comics in the 1980s before leaving to go freelance. Blaustein went on to write several issues of Milestone’s Static before joining DC Comics as a production artist/photographer.
Blaustein, a transgender individual, evolved into Madeleine while building up an impressive voice over resume for English-language anime adaptations including Solomon Moto on Yu-Gi-Oh, commercials and radio. She was also a very active participant at Second Life.
After leaving DC Comics in 2006, Blaustein joined Weekly World News as its visual artist, creating the elaborate photos to accompany its stories. We worked alongside one another at the company and she loved the challenge the stories posed her. After the paper folded in August 2007, Blaustein freelanced until her death.
Aaron McQuade, who profiled Maddie for The Advocate, wrote on his blog, “Maddie once told me the story of how she was inspired to fully transition from male to female (and to come out to her co-workers as transgender) by an episode of Pokémon. In the episode ‘Go West, Young Meowth’ her character travels to Hollywood to make it big. There, Meowth falls in love with another Meowth, who spurns his advances. He decides to learn how to speak and to stand upright in order to impress her – but she rejects him for being a “freak.” Meowth was a human trapped in a Pokémon’s body.”
Ah, dammit.His four-issue miniseries at Milestone, "Deathwish," featured Marisa Rahm, a transgender policewoman… I think that predated the Pokemon episode, unless he got a bootleg from overseas.(And I'm using "he" above because he was, at the time.)
Maddie worked for me at DC when he was Adam.His quick and biting wit was a breath of fresh air in the phoniness of the corporate environment. He always did any task he was asked to do, a real trooper.Bobbie – I don't know if you ever heard his impression of Counselor Troy enjoying chocolate but it was HILARIOUS!I'm sorry I never got to know Maddie but I think he was probably the same person.Man or woman Maddie was always a tough cookie.Cheers, baby! We'll miss you.
I too had the privilege of working next to Maddie for 5 years and at 2 different employments. She actually was the reason why I was hired at WWN. She said she could only work with me. We understood each other. She was down to earth and a great person to talk with at lunch. We had many personal discussions and I am going to miss having my friend there to talk to. We did a lot of complaining too. lol. So, Maddie, keep an eye out there for me. I will listen for you in my heart. I know you are at peace now. Bless you.