Terms and Conditions

by Robert Sikoryak

For his newest project, R. Sikoryak tackles the monstrously and infamously dense legal document,....

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Reference, Technology

108 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

Robert Sikoryak (born 1964) is an American artist whose work is usually signed R. Sikoryak. He specializes in making comic adaptations of literature classics, producing a mashup of high culture and low culture. Under the series title Masterpiece Comics, these include Crime and Punishment rendered in Bob Kane–era Batman style, becoming Dostoyevsky Comics, starring Raskol; and Waiting for Godot mixed with Beavis and Butt-Head, becoming Waiting to Go.

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just like the work this book is adapting, I don't think I read a word of it. Each page is a loose adaption of a classic page from another comic artist. For example page 46 is an adaption of a page from Clowe's Wilson. I had a lot of fun trying to guess the artist each page was "ripping off". I got a lot more than I thought I would correctly. I guess I do read a lot of comics...

[Jon Hewelt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terms and Conditions is the Apple Terms and Conditions rendered in comic form.

Your mileage with this book will vary depending on your response to that premise.

On the surface, Terms and Conditions seems like little more than a novelty. "Let's take the driest, most boring legal document imaginable and juxtapose it against fun, whimsical comics!" And frankly, that alone was enough to have piqued my interest. The Apple Terms and Conditions, unlike perhaps any other legal document, is so ubiquitous in our collective consciousness as to be ripe for parody and satire. Indeed, many have made jokes about the "hidden" clauses in the T and C, including the selling of one's soul and or first-born to Apple Inc. For someone to recreate the Apple T and C, in its entirety, for comedic purposes, seemed to me like an inevitability, and ultimately a joint question of when and who.

And that who, R. Sikoryak, was the other main selling point for me. Sikoryak is a fantastic craftsman, able to draw in a plethora of artists' styles. In a previous work, Masterpiece Comics, he visualizes the great books of literature as portrayed by famous comic characters. Waiting for Godot: starring Beavis and Butthead! Mephistopheles: starring Garfield! Dante's Inferno: starring Bazooka Joe! There was no doubt in my mind that Sikoryak could pull off the Apple T and C in a similar vein. I was curious to see how many different artists he pulled from, and what sort of connections would take place in juxtaposing particular panels with particular texts.

The results are surprisingly nuanced. In describing his process at the book's end, Sikoryak reveals that he took whole pages from his sources and modified them to better "fit" with the text of the T and C. That "fit" could be tonal, could be situational. Even the choice to have narration versus having a character spew text felt incredibly purposeful. On a first read, I couldn't figure out why certain pages were drawn in certain styles. What was the order? What was the sequencing? But nevertheless, these choices felt as deliberate as anything else in the book. Like the T and C itself, there's a method to this madness.

And that, too, was incredibly eye-opening: the Apple Terms and Conditions are, in fact, readable! Incredibly repetitious, but readable nonetheless! And despite the boring technical jargon, I began to see that there was a purpose to everything include in the T and C. That purpose may be no more than to cover Apple's collective ass in the case of lawsuits, but still purposeful. And taken within the context of these comic pages, one can't help but wonder what it'd be like to have the characters say these things in an "actual" comic panel. For each page, Steve Jobs is drawn as a different character, speaking the T and C to his partner or partners. And knowing the source material, those partners DO speak back. But here, they don't. They are silent, listening to the Jobs surrogate ramble on, as we, as electronic consumers, silently scroll and pretend to read the T and C until we reach the bottom and hit, "I Agree".

Oftentimes I feel that comics are written off as juvenile because pictures are considered secondary to words. "Why read the book when you can just see the movie?" But language, to the best of my understanding, is inherently visual. We take words in and imagine, visualize, in our mind's eye what those words represent. Cave paintings and hieroglyphics indicate that our language origins are rooted in the pictorial and emojis, as annoying as they can be, suggest that, in some ways, we are returning to visual communication: that, at times, visual communication is quicker and easier to understand.

Scott McCloud, in his Understanding Comics, explains these ideas a lot better than I do, and corrects whatever I'm saying that may be off-base, but my point in digressing is to emphasize the importance and complexity of comics. Comics highlight the gulf between what we see and what we hear: how communication breaks down between visual cues and word choice, how body language contributes to tone. The best comics, in my opinion, and no matter how cartoonish or otherworldly they may be, communicate something about our existence as human beings. And Terms and Conditions, from its presentation of technical language in a new context, to highlighting the icongraphy of Steve Job's "character" by dressing him up as iconic comic characters, gives us (me, at least) a lot to think about in terms and conditions of how we interact, how we navigate, and how we agree, oftentimes tacitly, to what is presented to us.

Terms and Conditions, as I hope I've made clear, is not a book in the traditional sense. It is entertaining, informative, can be enjoyed fully, but processing the text would not be the same as processing the text of a great (graphic) novel. I consider T and C a document, as its namesake is a document. It can be read out of order, picked up and put down periodically, perused on the toilet or in an airport lounge. It's a delight to those who recognize the artists Sikoryak imitates, and an invitation to the wide world of comics for those who might be unfamiliar.

This may be an oversell, but on a site called "Goodreads", truly good reads are worth overselling. Click here if you agree.

[Carol Tilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I had read a number of pages already from Tumblr, I enjoyed seeing them all in one place and identifying who he was borrowing from.

[Newly Wardell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't get the premise.

[Tom Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was never supposed to work as any kind of genuine narrative, and for the most part it doesn't, but every now and then, in amongst the incredibly brilliant in-jokes and pastiche, and the completely absorbing game of spot-the-reference (helpfully fully detailed in the end notes) there are moments here within panels that achieve a quite brilliant synchronicity between cultural-historical reference and contemporary legalese.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

reading the undreadable. It would have been better if R.Sikoryak's art looks more similar to original works.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand: This book is very much about Making a Point, and the point is that we read comics in a certain way, and that way usually involves prioritizing text over image even when we have no business doing so. It isn't quite fair to say that text and image work in complete parallel with each other since there are some overlays that make parts of the book hilarious to read, but the two do largely work independently with each other. Terms and Conditions is meant to call attention to and then challenge the text-image relationship in conventional graphic narratives; the iTunes Terms and Conditions was meant to be its own document, but the various panels Sikoryak cribbed from classic comic pages weren't, so--how much of the narrative do you still get from half of a medium? And so on. It's interesting to think about, and it's just fun to see Rob Liefeld's Steve Jobs.

On the other: the thing about books like these, books that have A Point to make is that you get the point a couple pages in and the rest is just mostly filler. Sikoryak does his best to make it entertaining, but it is mostly just. A gimmick.

[Steven "Steve" · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not rating this five stars because the text was a joy to read. Now I can honestly say I have read the entire Apple terms and conditions (from 2015, at any rate). Each page is directly drawn from a different comic book or newspaper cartoon, all adjusted to have Steve Job’s likeness and outfit. It never got old, and half of the fun was seeing how many I could correctly identify (a little less than half, as it turns out. I was only disappointed in myself twice for not recognizing something).

It was very enlightening to actually read the thing we all agree to without even scanning, and it does seem ironclad that no matter what Apple does, we already agreed to it and have no recourse. There are also multiple links to websites with further terms and conditions that would probably each constitute their own book. What a world we live in.

Should be required reading so we are all a little more aware of the dystopia we live in. Well worth the solid two hours it took to read it.

[Neven · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute illustration book recreating quite faithfully a different comic artist's style on each page, all while putting the character of Steve Jobs through various silly scenarios. The gimmick is that the text is just the Apple TOC, verbatim. The problem is that the visuals are disconnected from it, so the text serves as a hatch pattern, not content you need to bother reading. So keep in mind that this is more a collection of neat illustrations than a comic book.

[Geoff Sebesta · Rating 1 out of 5]

If this book was drawn ten times better it would only be half as much a waste of time.

If something's not worth doing, it's not worth doing well. Sure. But if it's not worth doing, maybe just don't do it.

[David Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Literally just the terms and conditions of apple products inserted into the speech bubbles of completely unrelated illustrations. I can't imagine anyone actually reading through this.

[Darren Cormier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and really cool idea by Sikoryak. It really isn't much more than a gimmick. Any insights derived from the project seem completely by accident.
Sikoryak took Apple's notoriously dense and usurious terms and conditions agreement of their iTunes product and placed the text verbatim in various pages from comics. He also replaced one of the characters in each frame with Steve Jobs, being sure to mimic/replicate the style of the comic he was using. Jobs' ubiquitous presence provides some of the inadvertent insights of the book. The pages of Nancy and Little Lulu, for example, show Jobs bellowing at the circuitous text at the titular character, enhancing Jobs' reputation as a tyrant and his omnipresent aspirations.
Despite the cleverness of this project, halfway through you become aware that you are reading Apple's iTunes Terms & Conditions agreement. No amount of dressing it up can change the text, even if it is the only format in which a consumer is likely to read its entirety.
Worth the read to see Sikoryak's virtuoso recreation abilities and for the variability of the comics chosen for the book. Bear in mind the text is exactly as dry and mind-numbing lawyerly and indicative of all tech companies' intentions of owning all of your activities while using their product and recusing them of liability for anything they might do with it or sell it to. (But, yay! shiny new gadgets!)

[Tikhon Jelvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

More of an art object than a book, but pretty brilliant as such. It's what it says on the tin: the iTunes terms and conditions, verbatim, rendered as a graphic novel. Each page calls out to a specific work and style of a different cartoonist. The callbacks are incredibly well executed, capturing totally different visual styles perfectly, while using Steve Jobs and the text to tie everything together.

Terms and Conditions is fun as a pastiche of comic styles and fun as a takedown of legalistic nonsense—if the two don't quite come together, well, the dissonance is the point.

I particularly appreciate how the book sticks to its structure and doesn't try to force any particular commentary about, well, anything: you can read a lot into the book, whether it's about EULAs and modern capitalism or the nature of cartoons and graphic novels, but it all emerges from the book's premise. The book itself takes this premise and executes it in an honest, straightforward way, content to let you come to your own conclusions.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very Robert Sikoryak project. Ever since first encountering his work in the pages of Raw, I've been fascinated by his ability to imitate other people's drawing styles, producing mashups like Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" as a series of Peanuts strips. In this book, he takes on a new style for every page, with the text taken from one of the least read well-known documents in history: the Apple user terms and conditions. I'll admit: I gave up reading about halfway through, and just flipped through the rest of the book admiring the art. There are countless styles represented, Winsor McCay, Steve Ditko, Mort Walker, Osamu Tezuka, Allie Brosh, Robert Crumb ... Sikoryak credits his sources for each page, just in case there's a style you don't recognize. It's a fascinating book, if a bit boring to actually read.

[Dan Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Making a comic out of the Terms and Conditions of the iTunes agreement may come off as a giant gimmick, and that is exactly what it is. That does not make it any less effective. Does it actually make any type of narrative sense? None whatsoever. Does the art on the page match with the words being spoken? Maybe...kind of...jury is still out. What becomes the joy of this book is how it just keeps going. That and seeing how R. Sikoryak keeps finding new ways to put a comic book version of Steve Jobs into different types of famous comic books. Everything from Green Lantern to Charlie Brown to My Little Pony is homage in some way. This may have been a book made on a bet. I do not think it is physically possible to read it all in one sitting, and in a way that aspect makes you question how quickly we click 'I agree' to things we do not understand.

[Clayton Barr · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for a bit more from this graphic novel, though I'm not sure what. It delivers what it advertised as, the unabridged EULA of iTunes (the terms and conditions no one ever reads) accompanied by comic panels drawn by the author based on original art of classic comic strips and comic books. The novelty of the art does make the EULA marginally more entertaining to read, but the text is largely the legalese you expect from such things. The most interesting part of the EULA is a portion that declares the licensed application may not be exported to any U.S.-embargoed countries and that you may not use these products for any purpose prohibited by the United States, including the development, design, manufacture, or production of nuclear missiles or chemical or biological weapons!

Certainly an interesting experiment in art.

[David Macpherson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. The text was not a wonderful read but it brought up a lot of ideas in me about what is valid writing and what are the important pieces that hold us together. The way Sikoryak presented the Apple ITunes contract was by putting the texts in the mouth of comic book characters. Every page was a different actual comic page redrawn to have Steve Jobs as one of the characters. Every page presented a piece of visual narrative that was not related to the wordsbeing said. The words were about how APple had control in the relationship and we really didn't. IT was almost a hallucinatory experience. It did take me months to get through the book, apple legalese is tough going.

[Joe Collier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I’ll be upfront and say that I didn’t actually “read” this (keeping in line with the original, haha), but rather flipped through page by page marveling at the deftness with which Sikoryak adapts so many (really—so, so many) familiar/beloved comics styles. It’s astonishing how well he apes and incorporates them all, everything from classic funny papers strips like Beetle Bailey and Nancy to less mainstream but still recognizable fare like Charles Burns. He even manages to work in a nod to Scott McCloud’s seminal work Understanding Comics! If you like comics and also like mashups, then you’ll want to check this out.

[Regan Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like everybody else, I've agreed to way too many things online without reading what I'm signing off on. I now live in fear that one day everything I own will be carted away by some anonymous looking goons in black jumpsuits waving a form at me shouting, "you agreed to this!" I wish Mr. Sikoryak would create a comic for every document I'm ever going to have to sign in the future because I would actually read them. He does a great job imitating the styles of classic cartoonists, and giving the blahblahblah text some drama through clever juxtapositions. It wasn't exactly gripping, but it was fun.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not so much a graphic novel, but an extended piece of concept art to make a point. Perhaps it’s much more than the average person expects or wants. One hundred and eight pages of material done in a variety of classic comic book and comic strip styles. The main character, a cartoon version of Apple creator and child slaver Steve Jobs, wanders through the world of the graphic novel while reciting the ridiculously long and tediously complex terms and conditions for Apple products. Don’t bother trying to take in the actual material, even in this interesting format it’s nearly incomprehensible, almost as bad as Finnegan’s Wake.

[Kent Winward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steve Jobs as Popeye, Tarzan, Wolverine, Shaggy, Sluggo, and I could go on. That alone is enough to give this book a thumbs up, but maybe its biggest accomplishment is that it helped me read all of the Terms and Conditions from Apple in just under four months. Wading through all that legalese can only be accomplished with such fine accompanying pictures. Someone should require somewhere in the CFR that all Terms and Conditions must include some illustrations -- then maybe someone would actually read the damn things.

[Mark Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great homage to a century of great comics from around the world! The use of the iTunes agreement as a pseudo textual commentary was funny, but I have to admit I bailed on reading the actual words after about 30 pages. Even with all the great illustrations, I couldn't bring myself to actually read the thing that millions of people around the world have also never read, but still clicked "I agree" at the end. Very creative and ironic treatment of one of the most ignored texts out there.

[Kelly Lynn Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The TL;DR of this is that by using iTunes or Apple or whatever, you're signing away all your rights and Apple can screw you over as much as they want!

A boring read, but the art made it fun. I enjoyed playing "which comic is this art from" and was surprised at how many I knew! There's also an index in the back if you want to cheat.

I don't use iTunes, but if you do, you should probably read this.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was, at once, both painfully boring and hilarious. I applaud the author for including as many comic styles as possible, and is what made this book worth a look-through. I guess I was expecting the author to create some form of story for the terms and conditions - but it really is a word-for-word copy of the terms and conditions, just told in speech bubbles.

However, it was super awesome to go through and see how many styles I could identify.

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I only read about 10% of the words in this work, that's probably 99% more than I usually read when accepting any T&C document. Admittedly, the high rating is definitely due to the novelty of what Sikoryak was doing here. Loved the exploration of such a variety of old comics, some of which I recognized and may of which were new to me. Seeing Jobs portrayed in the different styles was so fun. Not something to be read cover to cover but fun to flip through.

[Mrshawn10100 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked it out based on the cover. Only realized it was literally Apple's terms and conditions with different comic art after I "started" reading it. However, I did appreciate the great artwork and irony of setting the terms and conditions to exciting comic art in the style of well known comics. (Moves the one star to a two star.) And, perhaps some terms and conditions that I write will someday be set to comic art? (Moves the two star to a three star.)

[sucker4synth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I, uh, skimmed most of it. But enjoyed the art styles and knew more than I imagined. Thanks, voracious comics appetite.

Cool enough concept, fun peruse, and that one artist aped so many others so well is noteworthy.

So much Steve Jobssss...

It is, however, not possible to make that text engaging, so the glut that is the actual terms and conditions weighs down. Such was the point, to be sure, but that didn't make me thrilled to read blocks of text about nothing over interesting art.

[James Kinsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a fantastic concept, brilliantly executed, so deserves a high rating. This is, of course, despite the fact it is in one crucial, deliberate sense very very dull indeed.
It's certainly illuminating, however, to see how thoroughly Apple divest themselves of any responsibility for their own product and the net result is a conviction that the length of the T&C's is a deliberate strategy to put people off reading them.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting art/culture object that maybe doesn't say as much about the source material as it could have. Instead of Sikoryak aping and pastiching some of the most iconic comic moments of the past century, I would have actually preferred an original visual narrative that uses the Apple Terms and Conditions as an emotive pattern to follow. It's fun though.

[Jessica Haider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Admittedly, I didn't "read" much of the text in this graphic novel. The text was the Apple Terms & Services agreement done up in graphic novel style. Each page of the book was done in the style of a different comic such as Dilbert, Snoopy, Garfield, Richie Rich, The Archies, Adventure Time, Beetle Bailey, etc. It was an interesting concept.