Artist Zak Kinsalla says his new webcomic King Maul, created with former Marvel editor Aubrey Sitterson, is about a "space barbarian," but I think he means "space" in more ways than one.

Premiering in August, King Maul centers on a savage warrior (named King Maul, of course) who burst out of a portal in space with ominous narrative boxes dubbing him a conqueror, destroyer and creator of an empire. His first battle, with an unnamed green-skinned alien, is less Conan the Barbarian and more WWE Raw -- in a good way. In early episodes, fighting is briefly delayed when Maul is offered to smoke a mysterious substance, only to be renewed with his newly established battle cry of "Baaaaaaaaaaallllllssss."

After his time at Marvel, Sitterson worked as a writer for WWE's website, as well as a marketing manager for its video game series, and you can see the pro-wrestling influence in this webcomic. Kinsalla has said he based some of his depictions of King Maul on current WWE World Champion Brock Lesnar. However, I don't think Lesnar has ever smoked alien weed ...

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