Superjail

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How the hell did they do it?

How did Christy Karacas and his band of psychos get Superjail on the air? It's sick and subversive, sloppy and disjointed... and completely deranged. And brilliant. This thing is the closest thing to art Adult Swim has ever aired.


I can't get enough of this damn show. And it's not fair, dammit. After many long, long years trying to clean up my designs and streamline my production pipelines, trying to simplify my layouts so I can tell my story quickly and efficiently, trying to keep my characters on model and establish rules for style, these guys turn it all backwards and upside down.


It's the only show on Adult Swim - hell, on most of TV - that's still drawn FRAME BY FRAME! I don't even have the balls to try that! And we're not talking about simple artwork here - look at this:


Frame by frame, bitch.


It's like the 70s all over again... not the bad, stiff Hanna Barbera Saturday Morning 70s, but the trippy Ralph Bakshi, anything goes 70s. It's Yellow Subrarine on acid - a lot of Acid. It's Schoolhouse Rock for the criminally insane.



The characters, like liquid, seem to evolve from shot to shot - the result of a truly fluid and organic animation process - but it only adds to the show. In that way, it shares much with Ren & Stimpy. And the gags - my god. Lots of people die horrible bloody deaths, but it's okay apparently, because they're murderous criminals.

Every episode ends with a full-scale battle resulting in mass carnage. The plot that takes us there is almost irrelevant by the time we arrive, because the pure visceral thrill of the carefully (or carelessly) storyboarded action overshadows the whole experience. Even a sudden orgy provides more gore than a Freddy Kruger movie.

I challenge you to watch this show and find a main character without serious personality flaws (sadism, narcissism, emotional detachment, submissive self loathing - all to the point of turning your stomach) - and yet, I'm fully engaged. Adult Swim, Augenblick Studios, their sponsors - all took a huge chance on this one and it is paying off. Fans are clamoring for Season 2 and, at the rate it must take to produce each show, there will be a bit of a wait. But I expect the process will be as painstaking as season 1.

I don't know what makes this show so damn addictive, but I can say this with certainty: the guys who produce Superjail love to animate.

More - cause you gotta love it.




If you haven't bothered yet, give it a go.

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