Superjail! is an American adult animated television series created by Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick and Ben Gruber for Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. It follows the events that take place in an unusual prison. The pilot episode aired on May 13, 2007, and its first season began on September 28, 2008.
Superjail! is characterized by its psychedelic shifts in setting and plot and extreme graphic violence, which give the series a TV-MA-V rating (for graphic violence, including scenes of bloodshed, dismemberment, torture, and cruelty). These elements are depicted through highly elaborate animated sequences, which have been described as "baroque and complicated and hard to take in at a single viewing".
Contents
Setting and premise
The majority of Superjail! is set inside the eponymous prison, located in an alternate dimension identified as "5612". The prison is overseen by an individual known as "The Warden", the amiable yet sadistic and mischievous head of Superjail with apparent shapeshifting powers who uses the prison (and prisoners) to satisfy his numerous whims. Externally, Superjail is built underneath a volcano which is itself located inside of a larger volcano. Internally, it seems to constitute its own reality where the fabric of time and space is fluid and changes at the whim of the Warden. It has been indicated that the prison itself has a degree of sentience and the nature of the prison is fluid according to the perceptions of the individual. Superjail's inmate population is estimated by Jared, the Warden's primary assistant, to be in excess of 70,000, though the show's creators mention that the prison processes "billions of inmates".
In the first season, each episode begins with a linear story revolving around an irresponsible scheme concocted by the Warden to satisfy some personal desire. The episode builds in both violence and surrealism into a climactic psychedelic bloodbath during which numerous inmates are brutally and gruesomely murdered either by one another or an external force. Some episode plots have no resolutions at all, with the story simply stopping when events have reached their most chaotic point. However, the status quo is always restored by the next episode, unless the episode has multiple parts.
Beginning with the second season, the creators modified the format of the series to focus more on character development and story, as imagined by a revised writing staff. The second-season premiere "Best Friends Forever" demonstrated an immediate break from the first season's template, focusing the episode on Jailbot and Jacknife as opposed to the Warden, setting half of the episode outside of the prison and lacking an extended murder sequence in the climax.
The third and fourth seasons of the show attempted to meld the formats of the first two seasons, continuing a focus on character development and ongoing storylines while reviving the technique of ending each episode with a complex murder sequence.
Development
The series was the creation of Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick, and Ben Gruber. Karacas was a member of the band Cheeseburger (who provided the show's theme song "Comin' Home" until season 4), and a background designer for MTV's Daria. Karacas went on to direct Robotomy for Cartoon Network and create the series Ballmastrz: 9009. Warbrick was originally known for his work on MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head and Daria, was a digital artist on MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch and an animatic artist at Blue Sky Studios. Gruber originally wrote for Ultracity 6060 on MTV's Cartoon Sushi, and went on to write for series such as Teen Titans Go!, Breadwinners, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Jellystone!.
Karacas originally created a student film in 1997 for MTV's Cartoon Sushi, entitled "Space War". He then partnered with Warbrick in 2001, creating another film known as "Bar Fight", which caught the attention of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, who allowed them, and Ben Gruber, to make a show of their own. The name "Superjail!" was based on the former name of the Central North Correctional Centre.
International broadcast
In Canada, Superjail previously aired on G4's Adult Digital Distraction block, and currently airs on the Canadian version of Adult Swim.
Characters
Main
The Warden (voiced by David Wain) is the proprietor and warden of Superjail and main protagonist of the series. He is a tall, thin man clad in a purple tailcoat and top hat, gray gloves, pink cummerbund, and round yellow-tinted glasses. The Warden has been described as a "sadistic version of both the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland and Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Despite having an ever-cheerful and friendly disposition, he is actually a severely deranged and violent sociopath due to his upbringing by his cruel father. The Warden devised Superjail as a means for expressing himself and regularly endangers the inhabitants of Superjail, often intentionally, to satisfy his whims. He has very little respect for human life, and one day wishes to incarcerate all of humanity within Superjail, according to one episode depicting an alternate future where he conquers the entire world and transforms it into a single prison state. Rather than handling any actual administrative tasks, he spends most of his time lusting after Chief Guard Alice or indulging in his own bizarre fantasies. The Warden also possesses magical abilities, like the ability to shapeshift into virtually anything he can imagine, and controlling the laws of reality within Superjail. Though the Warden's name is never revealed, David Wain answered "Mark Davis" in a Reddit AMA. In an interview with FreakSugar, Karacas revealed that the Warden is romantic asexual, although he is frequently depicted expressing explicitly sexual interest in Alice.
Jared (voiced by Teddy Cohn) is Superjail's large-headed, long-moustached, uptight/high-strung accountant and the Warden's primary assistant. Jared handles most of Superjail's administrative duties and extracurricular activities, like the Superjail Newspaper. He was first brought to Superjail as a prisoner for unknowingly working for the mafia and got his current job when he impressed the Warden with his intelligence and financial skills (An allusion to The Shawshank Redemption). He is in recovery for, according to the creators, every addiction possible: alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, and compulsive eating.
Alice (voiced by Christy Karacas) is Superjail's head prison guard. Alice regularly engages in sadomasochistic rituals with the prisoners (often without their consent), all the while rebuffing the Warden's advances. Originally a male guard at a normal prison, she discovered her true nature after falling in love with that prison's homosexual warden, who quickly fired her as a result of his transphobia. Alice was hired by the Warden shortly thereafter.
Recurring
Gary and Bird – Gary is a silent, bespectacled man based on Robert Franklin Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz. However, Gary is mostly a servant to Bird, a small female canary, who appears to be the unofficial "boss" of all of the prisoners in Superjail until Lord Stingray was imprisoned.
Paul Guaye and Jean Baptiste Le Ghei (voiced by Christopher McCulloch and Stephen Warbrick) – Two homosexual inmates who appear in nearly every episode. Formerly the leaders of the rival gangs Purple Pythons and Double Rainbow in Superjail, Paul and Jean later fell in love and married. Paul is depicted as being the more feminine of the couple and is somewhat controlling of Jean.
Ash Firin (voiced by Christopher McCulloch) is a severely burned prisoner with pyromania and pyrokinetic abilities. He was burned in a fire caused when his father dropped a cigarette in a theater.
Fatty (voiced by Stephen Warbrick) is a bald, middle-aged, overweight inmate who has a high-pitched voice and giggly/creepy personality, with an affinity for trying to expose his genitals.
Peedee (voiced by Dana Snyder) is a live ventriloquist's dummy possessed by Gary's vocal cords. He was originally controlled from within by Bird with Gary projecting his voice, but the dummy gained independence after Gary's severed vocal cords first possessed a rat and then the doll. He shares a rivalry with Lord Stingray, but the two occasionally work together against the Warden and the other inmates.
The Mistress (voiced by Sally Donovan) is the female warden of Ultra-Prison (a women's prison). She had a brief one-night stand with the Warden while under the effects of Spanish fly. In the season 2 finale, she takes control of Superjail. She engaged in a relationship with Lord Stingray in the season 3 episode "Stingstress". After having sex with Alice, the Mistress returns Superjail to the Warden while she begins a new lifestyle as a hippie.
Bruce (voiced by Melissa Brown ("Ladies' Night") and Chris McCulloch, Stephen Warbrick ("Stingstress") is the head guard at Ultraprison and part of the Mistress' staff. He is the opposite counterpart to Alice and is thus also transgender.
Influences
In a Cold Hard Flash interview, creator Christy Karacas explained influences for the show were Gary Panter, Robert Crumb, Sally Cruikshank, Mad magazine, Vince Collins, Looney Tunes, Fleischer Studios, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Schoolhouse Rock!, Sesame Street, the Itchy & Scratchy segments from The Simpsons, kids' art, Muppets, outsider art, underground comics and Pee Wee's Playhouse.
In other media
Superjail! characters (The Warden, Jared, Alice and Jailbot) would make an appearance in the Robot Chicken special, titled Robot Chicken Adult Swim Special, which was to commemorate the block's 25th anniversary. It is set to premiere on Adult Swim on August 30, 2026.
Home releases
The series is also available on HBO Max since September 1, 2020.
