Alison Oliver Explores The Life And Work Of “Pop Nun” Corita Kent In New Graphic Biography – The Fandomentals

Oni Press has announced The Juiciest Tomato Of Them All: Corita Kent, Pop Nun, a graphic memoir from creator Alison Oliver (BabyLit, Be Bold Baby) about the life and times of artist Corita Kent.

Though not as well-known as her contemporary Andy Warhol, Corita Kent earned international acclaim throughout the 1960s as one of the pop art movement’s leading lights. In the height of her popularity, Kent appeared on the cover of Newsweek, was named one the Los Angeles Times’ Women of the Year, and saw her work exhibited at the Metropolitan Gallery of Art and The Smithsonian. Throughout the ‘60s, her work became increasingly political, urging viewers to consider poverty, racism, and social injustice. In 1968, she left the order and moved to Boston. After 1970, her work evolved into a sparser, introspective style, influenced by living in a new environment, a secular life, and her battles with cancer. She remained active in social causes until her death in 1986. At the time of her death, she had created almost 800 serigraph editions, thousands of watercolors, and innumerable public and private commissions.

The Juiciest Tomato Of Them All: Corita Kent, Pop Nun tells​ the story of how a nun living in Los Angeles managed to become an unlikely hero of America’s cultural revolution… and left an indelible mark on the art world and the face of Catholic sisterhood through her searingly fearless artwork.

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“I have been captivated by Corita Kent since first discovering her work in 2009,” said creator Alison Oliver. “Realizing the striking artwork was made by a nun was shocking, and the details of her life, and how she came to be a Pop nun, are so compelling that I kept finding myself asking, ‘Why don’t we know Corita Kent?’ The conclusion I have come to is that she embodied two very powerful archetypes: the artist and the religious person, and we don’t often accept that kind of complexity in a person. As we have become more polarized as a society I think we are at a crucial time to allow for the contradictions that make us human. Corita’s story is captivating because of her iconoclastic nature. It is a story that I think has become more relevant even over the course of time I have spent with her because of her refusal to accept what society demanded of her—that she fit into an easily understandable box.”

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“So much of Corita Kent’s story is still timely for our world today,” said Oni Press editor Allyson Gronowitz. “Corita challenged the status quo, speaking out against censorship, war, racial inequality, social injustices, and more. She used her art as a tool to change hearts and minds, all the while emanating a contagious joy and deep-rooted sincerity. What better way to experience the story of this woman in art history than through the visual storytelling medium of graphic novels? Alison Oliver’s beautifully illustrated reimagining of historical events brings Corita’s life to tangible reality through a book that celebrates Corita as both an artist and a nun, as well as everything she stood for.”
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Through brightly colored silkscreens and pop culture references, Corita Kent told stories that united her two worlds—a spiritual life and one full of art and beauty. The Juiciest Tomato Of Them All depicts the tale of this Iconoclast woman in history who cared deeply about the world she lived in and saw grace and radiance in everything around her.
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Alison Oliver’s The Juiciest Tomato Of Them All will be available from Oni Press on May 11, 2027 at your LCS and other booksellers.

Images via Oni Press

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