In Ship of Fools, Noé takes the traditional idea of the ‘ship of fools’ and transports it into outer space. The result is an exuberant science-fiction erotic comedy in which the spaceship itself becomes a closed world populated by eccentrics, hedonists and characters whose behaviour rapidly becomes impossible to control. Rather than treating science fiction as a serious futuristic adventure, Noé uses its conventions as a playground for sexual fantasy, absurdity and visual invention.

The ship is populated by a bizarre assortment of passengers and crew, and the story develops through their increasingly uninhibited encounters during the voyage. The isolation of the spacecraft creates the perfect setting for Noé’s particular brand of erotic comedy. Social rules have been left behind, while the technological environment provides an endless supply of strange situations and opportunities for fantasy.

La Nave de los Locos was written and drawn by Noé and serialised in Kiss Comix in 1998. Noé’s erotic work was produced specifically for the Spanish magazine and its French edition, and was subsequently sold for publication in other European countries and in the United States. In an interview, Noé explained that these stories were constructed in chapters for magazine publication, but with a planned overall length that would also allow them to be collected as books.

The English edition, Ship of Fools, was published by NBM/Eurotica in 1999. It was subsequently published in Italian as La Nave dei Pazzi in 2007.