Noah’s Archipelago

Noah’s Archipelago is a family life comic and graphic novel project Pyra Draculea created that ran from 2022-2026 as a webcomic and is now pivoting to a book project.

Meet Noah Thorsen

No one knows what Noah Thorsen does all day. A self-described “stay-at-home dude” and “cover band rock star,” he can often be seen chilling in his mother-in-law’s pool by day in between wrangling his bratty third-grader daughter Ursula, butting heads with said mother-in-law, and talking a million selfies. By night, he serenades the citizens of Victoria, BC, in his various cover and tribute bands, dressing up as Bono, Bon Jovi, or a giant rubber ducky as the gig demands.

Themes and Inspiration

Work on The Nick White Show hit a snag in the middle of 2022 when creator Pyra Draculea got a nasty summer flu and lost her voice for weeks, forcing a few months off of working on that project. Meanwhile, she’d been developing an idea for a puppet show that ended up mutating into a comic instead. It starred Noah Thorsen, a local bar band singer by night and stay-at-home dad by dad, as he navigated competing priorities between his family life and his band life.

Originally it was supposed to be more focussed on the bar band side of things but it ended up being much more about Noah’s home life with his wife Ruth (a second grade teacher obsessed with U2) and kids: imaginative third grader Ursula who loves cartoons and hates school, baby Valerie who’s always barfing on Noah, plus grown sons from earlier marriages Adam (a Goth Dj who’s into bodybuilding) and Duke (a hunting guide). We also meet Noah’s various bandmates and friends, Urusla’s teacher and classmates, and Ruth’s parents Agnes and Frank, in whose guest house Noah, Ruth, and the girls live.

Noah loves costumes and all manner of holidays, fake and made up. He sings in many bands, particularly his successful wedding band the Knotheads along with a trio of tribute bands for U2, Bon Jovi, and Creed.

Production notes

As a brightly colored and bold webcomic, Noah’s Archipelago was mostly drawn digitally with Procreate. There have also been a lot of quick marker cartoons. Moving forward into its graphic novel and book phase, it’s being illustrated in black and white with a modified traditional comics process (dip pen and India ink on Bristol board).

Draculea is currently working on a series of short stories and novellas centered around Noah’s daughter Ursula which will involve crossover with characters from Zamo the Destroyer, Ricky B. the Rock N Roll Rat, and even The Nick White Show.

The first of five comics treasury books, Bring Me the Royal Flip-Flops: A Noah’s Archipelago Comics Treasury, is now available on Amazon.