The Juiciest Tomato of All: Oni Press Brings Pop Art Pioneer Corita Kent’s Remarkable Story to Comics

Alison Oliver explores the extraordinary life of artist, educator, activist, and former nun Corita Kent in The Juiciest Tomato of All: Corita Kent, Pop Nun, an original graphic biography arriving from Oni Press in May 2027.

One of American pop art’s most fascinating figures is getting the graphic novel treatment.

Oni Press has announced The Juiciest Tomato of All: Corita Kent, Pop Nun, a 144-page graphic biography written and illustrated by bestselling cartoonist Alison Oliver, best known for her work on the BabyLit series and Be Bold Baby.

Arriving May 11, 2027, the book examines the remarkable life of Corita Kent, the nun-turned-artist whose brilliantly colored serigraphs helped establish her as an influential voice in American art during the turbulent cultural landscape of the 1960s.

While Corita shared an era with figures such as Andy Warhol, her story followed a dramatically different path. She combined religious life, education, pop art, typography, advertising imagery, spirituality, activism, and social commentary into work that challenged expectations about what sacred art—and the life of a Catholic sister—could be.

For readers interested in the growing range of graphic biographies and creator-driven books coming from the publisher, The Juiciest Tomato of All adds another distinctive project to Oni Press‘ expanding catalog.

Who Was Corita Kent?

Corita Kent was more than an artist who happened to be a nun.

She became an unexpected participant in the cultural transformation unfolding across America during the 1960s.

Working through vibrant serigraphs, Kent incorporated recognizable words, commercial imagery, religious ideas, slogans, advertising language, poetry, and contemporary social concerns into compositions that could appear joyous at first glance while carrying considerably deeper meaning.

Her work increasingly addressed subjects extending beyond traditional religious imagery, including war, inequality, censorship, peace, and social justice.

That combination made her difficult to categorize.

She existed simultaneously within the Catholic Church and the rapidly changing contemporary art world.

That tension appears to be exactly what drew Alison Oliver to her story.

Oliver has described discovering Kent’s artwork in 2009 and being immediately fascinated when she learned that the person responsible for these striking pop-art compositions was a nun.

But the question that stayed with her was much simpler:

Why isn’t Corita Kent better known?

An Artist Who Refused an Easy Label

That question appears to sit at the heart of The Juiciest Tomato of All.

Corita Kent did not comfortably fit into the categories society created for her.

She was religious.

She was an artist.

She was an educator.

She was deeply interested in contemporary culture.

She embraced spirituality while simultaneously pushing against institutional expectations.

And she increasingly used her art to engage with issues happening far beyond the walls of her religious community.

Rather than attempting to simplify those contradictions, Oliver’s graphic biography appears designed to embrace them.

That could prove essential to understanding Kent.

The preview pages reinforce this approach by presenting a visual conflict between Corita and Catholic leadership over her unconventional artistic interpretations.

One sequence centers around a piece called The Juiciest Tomato of All, which transforms religious symbolism through the language and imagery of pop art.

To one side, Corita sees possibility.

To the other, church authorities see provocation.

That disagreement becomes much larger than a single artwork.

It becomes a struggle over who gets to define religious imagery—and who controls the interpretation of sacred symbols.

The Battle Over a Tomato

The premise might sound almost comedic.

A nun.

A tomato.

A church controversy.

But Oliver uses that unlikely combination to explore serious questions about artistic ownership, censorship, gender, religious authority, and self-expression.

The preview makes the conflict remarkably clear.

Corita’s artwork is labeled inappropriate and even blasphemous by members of the church hierarchy.

Rather than simply accepting the criticism, however, she questions the assumptions behind it.

If religious institutions can repeatedly reinterpret sacred imagery through art created by men, why should a woman—and particularly a nun—not participate in that same tradition?

The resulting exchange gives readers a strong indication of the book’s personality.

This isn’t merely an illustrated chronology.

It appears to be a character-driven story about an artist learning when to challenge the structures surrounding her.

Alison Oliver Gives History a Distinct Visual Identity

One of the most immediately striking qualities of The Juiciest Tomato of All is Oliver’s visual approach.

The pages do not attempt photorealism.

Instead, Oliver uses simplified figures, expressive faces, heavy blacks, hand-drawn textures, and carefully deployed bursts of red, orange, yellow, and pink.

The result feels appropriately connected to Kent’s own fascination with graphic design and color.

Some sequences are primarily black, white, and gray before sharp reds immediately pull the eye toward Catholic robes, artwork, signage, or emotional focal points.

Other pages explode into oranges and yellows.

That graphic approach gives the book an identity that feels less like a conventional historical biography and more like an artistic response to another artist’s life.

It’s an important distinction.

A biography about Corita Kent should feel visually alive.

Based on these early pages, Oliver understands that.

Pop Art Meets Faith

Part of what makes Corita Kent such an interesting subject is the apparent contradiction between her worlds.

Pop art frequently borrowed from consumer culture.

Catholic religious tradition looked toward centuries of established imagery and symbolism.

Kent brought the two together.

She could look at everyday objects, packaging, words, commercial language, and signs and find another way of seeing them.

Her art suggested that inspiration did not have to exist only inside museums or churches.

It could be found in the visual noise surrounding everyday life.

That perspective eventually earned her considerable recognition.

During the height of her career, Kent appeared on the cover of Newsweek, was recognized by the Los Angeles Times, and saw her artwork reach major cultural institutions.

Yet her name never achieved the same popular recognition associated with many male artists of the pop-art era.

The Juiciest Tomato of All appears determined to reconsider that imbalance.

More Than an Art Biography

Oni Press editor Allyson Gronowitz has emphasized how contemporary Kent’s concerns still feel.

She challenged censorship.

She spoke against war.

She addressed racial inequality and social injustice.

She questioned established systems while maintaining a powerful sense of optimism.

That makes this graphic biography particularly interesting.

Readers don’t necessarily need to arrive already familiar with Corita Kent.

The book can function as an introduction to her artwork while simultaneously exploring broader questions about creativity, authority, faith, and activism.

It is also another example of how comics can approach biography differently than traditional prose.

Oliver can recreate conversations, juxtapose images and historical ideas, use color symbolically, and allow Kent’s artistic philosophy to become part of the page itself.

The medium isn’t simply presenting Kent’s history.

It can interact with it.

A Nun at the Center of a Cultural Revolution

The most compelling aspect of Corita Kent’s story may ultimately be how unlikely it sounds.

A Catholic nun becomes one of the most recognizable pop artists of the 1960s.

Her work merges advertisements with spirituality.

Church authorities object.

Her fame grows.

She challenges expectations surrounding gender, religion, art, and authority.

Then decades later, another artist discovers her work and asks why more people don’t know her name.

That question became The Juiciest Tomato of All.

And it may introduce Corita Kent to an entirely new generation.

Readers looking for another perspective on the announcement can also check out the early report on Corita Kent’s upcoming graphic biography.

Book Details

Title: The Juiciest Tomato of All: Corita Kent, Pop Nun
Writer/Artist: Alison Oliver
Publisher: Oni Press
Format: Original Graphic Novel
Pages: 144
Full Color: Yes
Price: $24.99
On Sale: May 11, 2027
Final Order Cutoff: April 19, 2027

Final Thoughts

The Juiciest Tomato of All has the potential to be much more than another artist biography.

Corita Kent’s life intersects with religion, feminism, pop art, censorship, activism, education, and America’s cultural transformation during the 1960s.

Alison Oliver’s expressive visual approach looks particularly well suited to telling that story.

Instead of reducing Kent to either “artist” or “nun,” the book appears interested in the complicated person who existed between those definitions.

That’s where the story becomes fascinating.

Corita Kent found spirituality in popular culture, transformed ordinary language into provocative art, and refused to let either religious institutions or the art establishment neatly determine what kind of artist she was allowed to become.

Now, decades later, The Juiciest Tomato of All is preparing to put her colorful, complicated, and important story back in the spotlight.

Join the Discussion

Were you already familiar with Corita Kent, or will The Juiciest Tomato of All be your introduction to her work?

Let us know in the comments.

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