Noah’s Archipelago is a funny and sweet slice-of-life comic strip (well… more like a comic box) by Vancouver Island-based writer/artist Pyra Draculea. It began in the summer of 2022 when Draculea was unable to do character voices for her comedy project The Nick White Show for several months after a bad flu and Noah’s Archipelago quickly became her primary creative project. The comic centers around the daily life and petty conflicts of stay-at-home dad and cover band singer Noah Thorsen, who never met a ridiculous costume or a fake holiday he didn’t love.
Noah lives with his second-grade teacher wife Ruth and his two daughters Ursula (a bratty third-grader who loves cartoons and hates school) and Valerie (a baby who expresses her annoyance by projective vomiting on Noah whenever possible) in Ruth’s parents’ guesthouse in Oak Bay, a posh neighbourhood of Victoria, BC, where Noah and his father-in-law Frank are quietly transforming the giant manicured back lawn into a suburban homestead (which Frank often instigates but then blames on Noah when his wife Agnes gets mad… and Agnes always gets mad.)
The Thorsen family extends beyond just Noah and his ladies, of course. Noah has two grown sons from his first two marriages: Adam from his first wife Gigi and Duke from his second wife Maria. Adam is a punk rock goth DJ who is always eager to offer to beat up Ursula’s school bullies (though Noah forbids him to actually do so and Duke is skeptical that he’d actually win in a fist fight with an 8 year old, despite Adam’s enormous size), while Duke is a mouthy hunting guide and arcade junkie.
On the work front (or should that read “work” lol…), despite what Agnes says, Noah is no slacker. Aside from the never-ending house husband tasks of laundry, diapers, cooking, and Ursula wrangling—chores which Noah unfortunately has yet to find robots capable of handling them for him—Noah sings in a bunch of local bands including a U2 tribute act (due to Ruth’s undying love of Bono), a Creed tribute act (the better to please Ruth and annoy Adam), and a wedding cover band.
Ruth’s ambitions are a bit more literary, aiming to spread the love of reading to her all her students, and someday, God willing, perhaps to convince Noah to read something… anything… that isn’t a comic book or a copy of Classic Rock Magazine.
For her part, Ursula just wants to watch cartoons. And draw them. And quit school. And commiserate about school with her penpal Cindy. And maybe, just maybe, con her parents into paying “Inspector Ursula” hundreds of dollars to solve crimes and mysteries for them… even if she has to commit them herself to drum up business.
