Superjail!

"Superjail" is a great cartoon from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block that combines psychedelic imagery with a bucket load of graphic violence. Focusing on the exploits of an insane jail warden and his crew, Superjail is perfect for cult audiences.

One of the best parts of this series is its use of imaginative imagery. The show packs as many weird images as it can into a fifteen minute cartoon, creating a dense visual style in which a single frame can contain multiple jokes.

The psychedelic visuals coexist with a flood of graphic violence, as prisoners kill one another or fall victim to the warden's various schemes. At times, the show comes across as the unholy offspring of an R. Crumb comic and the Happy Tree Friends. Although some reviewers have suggested this show is best watched under the influence of drugs, the amount of blood makes it at best questionable eye candy.

Ultimately, this show is best appreciated by cult audiences.

I am certainly not a television or movie critic but I believe I have good taste for what at least a portion of Adult Swim fans want. Like any AS show, Super Jail takes the viewing an episode or two to appreciate and understand what the show is really about. If a viewer tries to comprehend everything in an episode of Super Jail they will have a stroke. This show has such a fast-paced and unexplained plot that it can really give someone trying to analyze it a headache. Just watch it, sit back, relax, and think about how high the writers and artists for Super Jail must get. Don't judge it before you see more than one episode, maybe you will grow to like it more this way.

Superjail! reminds me of the brilliant animation that one found 20 years ago in those animation festivals that toured college campuses. Sure, it is twisted and sick, but it is so unpretentious and loyal to its own universe that it is simply genius.

From the massive body counts to the animation that makes 'Yellow Submarine' look drug-free, Superjail! is a gift from above.

I cannot believe how lucky we are that this network, whose bread and butter is cartoons for children, turns around and embraces the cutting edge while little ones sleep. I wish that I could do more than just write this to show the network my support.

The Adult Swim lineup generally has its hit or misses but this is one of the few true animated gems in the bunch. The show follows The Warden of Superjail who brings his Wonka-esquire, Scarry inspired fantasies to life in every episode. He is flanked by Jared the neurotic accountant, Alice the "female" prison guard, and Jailbot a merciless robot enforcer. Throw in the ultra violent prisoners, two time traveling techno-twins, and an experimental doctor and you have a recipe for some crazy plot lines.

The show shines brightest in the animation department. Every episode is richly colored and detailed unlike most animation on television (are you listening Adult Swim lineup?). The pace is fast and exciting and one really doesn't know how the next inmate will be killed- knife impalement, chainsaw, being clobbered to a bloody pulp by his own arm. Did I mention the ultra-violence in this show? The blood and gore that flows in every episode brings another comedic element to the show since most of it is done for, well, comedic effect. So... NOT FOR CHILDREN! In conclusion, if you enjoy the often violent, non-sequitur tales of Don Hertzfeldt, Bill Plympton, or Ren & Stimpy- this show is for you. If not, at least give it a try.

Cheers!

It takes something special, a quality that possibly cannot be named, save for whatever the combination of 'violent' and 'awesome' could possibly make-- Maybe that 'awesolent' quality-- the one that makes you sit back in your chair, or couch, or edge of your bed respectively, and say "This show is so 'awesolent', I wish *I'd* created it.." Maybe I'm projecting, but we should all, as proper Adult Swim watchers, be so very thankful to have the work of Augenblick Studios at our beck and call.

Superjail is comprised of a cast of characters that are so unique-- (save for the odd resemblance of the Warden to... I'll let you finish that one..) and yet somehow relative... if only on the abstract sense.

The animation is amazing, creative doesn't even begin to describe-- there is clearly so much thought in this series, from every single aspect -- artistically, audibly-- the thoroughness is almost enough to make your gut churn, because it's so pleasing to see something so *different* from the current line up of Adult Swim. Don't get me wrong. Thereare shows that I shan't name, that do actually have excellent stories-- but the animation is garbage, it's careless, and it's done on a low budget-- okay, I know, I'm sorry the economy's bad... but Superjail..

Ahhh.. just say 'Superjail..' aloud, and sigh. Doesn't it feel good? Don't you just want to stop reading this and watch it? The shows always leave the viewer in a state of awe at the end, which is excellent. I'm not talking' dumbfounded, not sure what happened awe, I'm talking' the 'oh, holy $h!t!!!' AND THAT IS WHAT WE WANT, WHEN WE ARE WATCHING AN ADULT SWIM PROGRAM, AMIRITE? This show gets an A+, as far as I'm concerned. It's the best show on Adult Swim right now, hands down.