Ben Potter, the YouTuber known as Comicstorian, has died of what is being called an “unfortunate accident” at age 40. The news was revealed by his wife Nathalie Potter on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
In the post, she revealed that he passed away on June 8, the same day his final video “Why DC’s Reboots Beats Marvel” was posted on YouTube. After a mourning period, she plans on continuing his channel – and legacy.
“Two days ago, on June 8th, my husband, Ben Potter, passed away in an unfortunate accident,” Potter wrote. “To many of you, he was Comicstorian, voicing stories from across multiple different mediums. To his loved ones, he was one of the best and most supportive individuals anyone could ask for. As a husband, a son, a brother, a friend, or even just a stranger, Ben was loving and genuine. He was someone who would listen and make time for his loved ones. He would do his best to make everyone laugh and make sure they were okay. He was our rock and he’d reassure his loved ones whenever they needed it. He was my world and I need time to be with friends and family. I have so many things I need to figure out but firstly, I need to grieve. I ask that you respect my privacy as well as everyone else’s.”
She continued, “Right now my priority is preserving everything he’s built and I don’t have any plans beyond that. His channel was one of his greatest accomplishments, and while we all need our time to mourn him, I know he wouldn’t want it to end like this. Ben spent over 10 years spreading his love and appreciation for his hobbies. It was through his love of exciting stories and well written characters that got him started on YouTube. The team and I want to keep that going. To honor him by continuing to tell great stories by great people, as well as to keep the memory of our very own superhero alive. We supported each other on everything we wanted to do and I’m not about to stop now.”
Unlike the Gamergate YouTube troll channels that often dominate conversation, Comicstorian was categorized by a positive outlook and per the name of the channel, frequent deep dives into comic book lore — and the channel grew to over 3 million subscribers. As news of his death hit the internet, YouTubers and comic book icons all came out to mourn the loss of Potter, including kind words from Tom King, Scott Snyder, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and many more.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.
