When was the last time you read the terms and conditions for iTunes? If your answer is “never,” you’re definitely not alone. At over 20,000 words, the lengthy agreement is, like most legalese, a total snoozefest. Comic artist Robert Sikoryak took it upon himself to change that, not by altering the actual wording, but by turning the rambling lawyer-speak into a graphic novel adventure spanning dozens of styles and settings.
Terms And Conditions is the aptly named final product, and it’s packed with more personality than any end user license agreement has ever dared to dream of. The over 20,000 words of the agreement are split into nearly 100 pages, and each one takes on a new style in honor of various comics and cartoons of the past and present.
The story — if you can even call it that with a straight face — follows various iterations of Steve Jobs as he breathlessly recites the iTunes agreement, word for word, in dozens of different locations and scenarios. There’s no context for why any of the characters are doing what they do in the comic, since the only text present is that of the agreement itself, but it makes for a fascinating combination nonetheless.
With nods to The Simpsons, Garfield, Popeye, Felix the Cat, and dozens of other comic styles, the exceedingly bland text manages to be secondary to the experience, and you might even learn a thing or two about one of the world’s most popular content platforms, too. We’ll call that a win/win.
