Back on March 13th, Odori Park turned two years old. I synchronized the date with a storyline about the birth of Sprout, but I didn’t do much to publicize the whole affair. Two days earlier, I had spent the better part of a Friday trying to find out if friends and family in Japan were safe from earthquakes, tsunamis, and radioactive contamination. In the days that followed, even though we had learned our loved ones were safe, we were–along with most of the rest of the world–still standing aghast at the reports coming out of my wife’s home country. It hardly seemed the time to raise a ruckus about a little two-year-old comic strip.

I didn’t say anything on the site about the disaster, nor do I intend to expound much about it now. My philosophy has been that, assuming you’re reading Odori Park for a smile and a laugh, I shouldn’t be crowding that out with worries and gloom. (If I do ever bring up the disaster in my strip–which isn’t planned, but could happen, given that half of my characters are Japanese–I’ll aim to do it in a way that’s respectful and true to the tone of the comic.) Hopefully you appreciate this aim on my part.

That said… Hey! Two years of Odori Park! Thank you, everyone, for reading, blogging, tweeting, podcasting, and generally supporting the comic! It’s a thrill every time I hear about someone enjoying this.

(Now, if we really want to talk about missed milestones, how about the fact that OP hit 300 comic posts back on Valentine’s Day, and even I didn’t know about it..?)