This Real-Life Teacher Perfectly Captured School Life With Humor In Her 31 New Comics

Bored Panda got in touch with the author of the series once again to ask a few questions about her recent work. This time, we were curious how Mojo Rose herself would describe ‘Summers Off Comics’—using only three words. Here’s what she told us: “Depressing, relatable, and funny. It's all born from real-world experiences (and fears), which I think has hit home with a lot of people. Some of it is silly, some of it ridiculous, some of it exhausting—but no matter what it's like, when you see your truth in there, you wind up laughing.”

When asked about a comic that unexpectedly resonated with her audience, especially one she didn’t anticipate, she responded: “Yes, I've created a few comics that really stuck with people. The one that really comes to mind is the shooting star comic, where a kid is having the worst day and is forgotten at school, and the teacher notices and waits with him. It's a wordless comic, but I think it really reminded people of that teacher who just got it. And of course, it reminds us teachers of that one kid we could get through to.”

We were also eager to know which of the comics Mojo Rose has created so far is her personal favorite. The artist shared that there are a few strips that really stand out to her as highlights. She elaborated: “There are a few comics that really stick out to me as my favorites, even though I don't think they hit hard with everyone. There’s an early one I made where the teacher is meeting with a principal about getting a one-to-one behavior aide for a student, but there's nothing in the record about his behavior, so they can't do it. The last panel pulls out so you can see this kid just hanging off her back, pulling her hair. That one just gets me because documentation only goes so far: y’all don't see what we see.”

The creator of the series also shared that some of the ideas she loved had to be scrapped because they just didn’t work as comics. She said: “I have notebooks and notebooks of comic ideas that are way funnier in my head than on paper, and some that I just haven't figured out how to translate from brain to pen. Maybe one day I'll publish all those sketches in a book called This Was Supposed to Be Funny.”

Lastly, Mojo Rose mentioned she’d love the chance to team up with fellow artists for future collaborations. Here’s what we found out: “There are so many amazing comic artists out there—it's really one of the best communities online, I think. It would be such a dream to work with Sarah Anderson (from Sarah Scribbles) or Chesca Hause (from Litterbox Comics). I wouldn't know what I could contribute, but I just admire both of their work and feel like I could learn a lot from them.”