My favorite memory of her is the night we had a few drinks and listened to Air America, the only “music” the two of us listened to at the time. She called into the show whilst doing a spot on George W Bush impression. I s*** you not. Went on and on about Joe Lieberman’s lips feeling like ripe mangos…. I’m laughing even thinking of it now….

I would say how saddened her passing makes me, but ultimately I know she would just tell me to get over it and drink my damn coffee. So I will. Good night dear lady.

He not only played dozens of roles (Dr. McCoy, Dr. Zaius, Boromir, the voice of Sulu, and Kermit the Jedi and about a hundred more I can’t remember), he also tirelessly helped built sets, models, lugged equipment and did some pretty complex makeup (he was awake for two days helping out with our Planet of the Apes sequence using Dick Smith’s Make-An-Ape Kit!). At the premiere party for our biggest effort (two years in the making), he presented me with a huge scrapbook full of sketches, photos, scraps and more that remains my favorite keepsake.

During the dark days after college, full of crappy jobs and lowered expectations, rather than get along we increasingly got on each other’s nerves and eventually lost touch. I was pleased to hear of his successes both as Adam and later as Maddie, and sometimes thought about dropping a line, but never did. Now the option has sadly been withdrawn.

Though we were close, I had no idea of the nature of his internal struggles. Looking back, I recall he was very happy one Halloween when he wore a lovely wig and evening gown. Then again, he seemed equally happy dressed up as a talking ape, so who knew? I’m glad life provided the opportunity and the courage for her to both become a woman and to continue vocalizing for sentient animals.

Many will rightly recall Maddie for her vocal talent, artistic ability, writing skill, sense of humor, and her bravery in championing transgender issues, but for me he’ll always be an integral part of what made me think of college as home. Adieu, Adam!

- Stefan Petrucha

Over the years we stayed in touch, and Maddie and I were even connected on various online networking sites. It was always fun running into her, and I was happy for so much of her success as a voice actor.

I can’t really believe she’s gone. Very sad.

Blessed Be,

Sue Flaxman Kennedy

Unfortunately, we lost touch after the Marvel days, so I never knew Maddie. But I enjoyed Adam, and I’ve always been grateful to him for buying my first comic book script, back when I was writing promotional articles for Marvel Age and trying to break into comics proper.

A funny person and a talented cartoonist. Once, we were chatting about an idea I had for a lighthearted series about a bunch of kid heroes, and Adam decided that I needed a villain. So he immediately pulled out a piece of paper and drew himself as a ten-year-old tough guy, complete with hairy arms and a cigarette. I’ve still got the sketch around here someplace…

But my favorite Adam memory is a story he told me about a time when he was hiking in the backwoods — I think, somewhere in the south. He met a couple who were also hiking, and they started talking. At some point during the conversation, he noticed that they were looking at him a little funny, so he asked why.

“You’re Jewish, aren’t you?” they asked. He answered that he was.

“So where are your horns?”

At that point in the story, I was a little taken aback at the thought that anyone in the (then-)20th century would still believe that myth, even if they’d never met a Jew before. I assumed he told them it wasn’t really true.

“Nah,” he replied with a shrug. “I figured they believed it all their lives, so who was I to contradict them? I told them I was young, so my horns hadn’t grown in yet.”

That was Adam — funny, offbeat, and never afraid to show anyone his horns. I wish we’d stayed in touch long enough for me to know Maddie too. I imagine she was probably much the same.

Take care, Maddie.

- Sholly Fisch

If anyone reading this would like to be part of a growing mailing list on this topic please contact me at ginak at pixeltoon dot com or via my web site.

hell with it, I’ll risk sounding overdramatic. She was my hero.

Jennifer Marie Dunne
just one of the lives she touched

For me and all the fans in the Valkyrie Profile fandom, there will be NO BETTER Lawfer then Maddie herself.

You will be deeply missed Ms Maddie but we do hope that you are having many more wild adventures wherever you are now =)……………..

- Love,
Cherricia E. Idalis + A horde of other fans =)

For me and all the fans in the Valkyrie Profile fandom, there will be NO BETTER Lawfer then Maddie herself.

You will be deeply missed Ms Maddie but we do hope that you are having many more wild adventures wherever you are now =)……………..

- Love,
Cherricia E. Idalis + A horde of other fans =)

http://www.digital-priest.com/blogs2/dpdc/2008/12/maddie.html

A visitor came to my office at Marvel and, finding the door locked, knocked. The door opened about eight inches to a hard stop at the foot of my assistant editor who scowled through the opening, “What.” Material would then be passed through the opening with the door locking securely thereafter. And that was the only way I ever got any work done around there. Thank God for Adam Blaustein.

I didn’t know Maddie Blaustein. By the time Adam became Maddie, we were orbiting different planets. There was absolutely no animosity or falling out, more like a falling away, with my moving in new directions and living far from New York. So I wouldn’t be able to tell you much about Maddie, who passed away this week, but I can share an awful lot about Adam. These are just a few highlights:

He had amazing insight and depth of character and was a constant source of personal and professional advice. He had a great place in Jersey City, where we could climb up on the roof at night and watch the most spectacular view of the New York skyline you could imagine. He got arrested once for carrying a dull sword on a New York subway. That sword is in my house, now.

We usually patrolled the Marvel offices armed. We had full-scale, official-weight replica model Colt 1911 automatic pistols tucked into our waistbands, which Marvel VP Mike Hobson would have to routinely explain to the uninitiated straights he routinely entertained next door.

The one time I ever borrowed money from Mark Bright was to loan it to Adam so he could take Golda—who later became his wife—out on a date. Golda, my wife’s best friend, was a Haitian American who, once they were married, was regularly harassed at department stores for presenting an Amex card belonging to “Golda Blaustein.” This is stuff you just can’t make up.

We mainlined coffee. We played jazz cassettes on a high-end stereo—not a boom box—in the office, next to a chaise lounge, beach ball and palm tree. The Spider-Man office was the coolest editor office in the joint, which also tended to invite ridiculous criticism from the other editors. But, if the joint was cool, Adam was a huge part of that. He was the sharpest, hippest, cigarettes-and-coffee guy you’d ever meet, which geeks like me tended to find threatening. A gifted mimic, he’d have me in stitches, at times entertaining the freelancers who routinely dropped anchor in the Spider-Office.

We moved apart in later years, which I’ll take the blame for. After my divorce, my reclusive tendencies took firm hold as I drifted out toward Pennsylvania and ultimately Colorado and out of comics altogether, losing track of a lot of friends along the way. I’m deeply saddened I could not be there for Maddie toward the end, but I have great expectation and hope for Maddie to be, finally, at peace, enraptured in love.

–Christopher J. Priest

Maddie was one of the loves of my life, has influenced me in so many ways, I carry a big piece of her inside me.

One of my favorite stories, we were shopping downtown, doing the weekend flea markets and we had bet that I could not find a pair of glasses which would look hideous on her. Maddie claimed to have a super power, to be able to wear the ugliest frames and still look cute. After trying on dozens of ugly ugly glasses we could not defeat her power.

My dear sister, I will carry you in my heart forever.

Her off beat sense of humor was a delightful mixture of silly sophistication. I wish I had known her better, but every time we hung out she always impressed me with her wit, intelligence, and warmth.

Everyone one in our VO community is deeply saddened by this loss. We are organizing a memorial service to honor her memory and setting up a charity in her name to support the transgendered.

It was that sort of upbeat, positive, excited nature that made so many people think highly of her, I suspect, and it’s why the world is so much poorer without her.

She loved by many and I doubt she ever realized it to the fullest degree. That’s what made her special.

She loved by many and I doubt she ever realized it to the fullest degree. That’s what made her special.