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iTunes terms and conditions: the graphic novel

Michelle Avenant
By Michelle Avenant
Johannesburg, 17 Nov 2015

US illustrator Robert Sikoryak has turned iTunes' 20 000-word terms and conditions agreement into a 94-page graphic novel, which he is publishing, a page a day, via Tumblr. Sixty-one pages of the novelised legalese are online at the time of writing.

Sikoryak created the novel in an attempt to make the lengthy contract more accessible. "Most people haven't read the iTunes agreement and feel that they should," he told The Guardian. He is also working on an adaptation of classic novel Moby Dick.

"iTunes terms and conditions: the graphic novel" features a caricature of late Apple founder Steve Jobs, complete with signature black polo-neck, wandering through a wildly-changing landscape spewing terms and conditions to a stream of rapt onlookers.

The epic is not only a novelisation of a ubiquitous but barely-read agreement, but a homage to the comic book and graphic novel mediums at large. Each page is based on a specific image from a different artist's work, and attributed accordingly on Tumblr. Page 61 is based on Ernie Bushmiller's daily comic Nancy, while page 53 is based on work by Dr Seuss.

The resultant work serves not only to make actually reading iTunes' terms and conditions much more enticing, but to expose users to a wide array of graphic artists. Sikoryak reportedly used iTunes to find popular comics to mimic - as such, readers can track down the original illustrations in the same place as they can find Apple's original wording.

"It's got some repetition," Sikoryak told The Guardian of the infamous contract. "It's not Gertrude Stein, but it has some poetic elements."

Page 61 of Robert Sikoryak's "iTunes terms and conditions: the graphic novel" is based on a page from Ernie Bushmiller's daily comic, Nancy.
Page 61 of Robert Sikoryak's "iTunes terms and conditions: the graphic novel" is based on a page from Ernie Bushmiller's daily comic, Nancy.