Everyone, I think we just need to deal with this: Harold the Astronaut is gonna get wordy sometimes. Look at all that text up there! And you should have seen the first draft—my goodness.

In my defense, the “Harold’s Diary” strips are basically illustrated stories. And these text-heavy comics do present interesting design problems to solve, which is great. I love a good design problem!

Which isn’t to say I always solve them correctly. But I do generally show my work. Partial credit?

Of course the big news here is that Harold probably doubles, if not triples, the amount of information we previously knew about him. He’s had at least three pets (and a surprising affinity for cute names), he spent his childhood on his grandparents’ farm, and he lived in the suburbs at some point. He trained in Florida, too, but he’s an astronaut so you probably already figured that one out.

Also? Harold’s house is finally revealed! And, yes, it’s yellow and pink. But that’s pretty much standard for Moon houses. Luckily just about anything looks good against a gray horizon.

Finally, it’s Leap Day, the day where nothing counts because “real life is for March!” What outrageous, irresponsible thing am I going to do today? How about driving to the Atlantic Ocean then dragging onto the beach a stack of arena speakers, each booming a different Bobby Day/Sleigh Bells mashup, and dancing the Bristol Stomp as two eighteen-wheelers loaded with fluorescent lights slow-motion crash and burst into flames behind me? That sound good?

Although, for real, I’m probably just going to get Friday’s bonus Harold ready. And send off a couple of exclusive Harolds for the second issue of Carbon Copy Magazine. So basically the opposite of the above paragraph.

Still pretty decent!