“Publishers Weekly Starred Review: Terms and Conditions” / Publishers Weekly / February 2, 2017
This multilevel graphic novel takes the actual texts of the terms and conditions of iTunes and translates them into comics form in the styles of a who’s who of comics–here Peanuts, there The Sandman, Dilbert, Adventure Time, and a hundred more–all narrated by Steve Jobs. It’s a prodigious feat of pastiche that gives rise to multiple interpretations. One is that the labyrinthine legalese of these agreements is possibly the real creative output of the digital giants. Another is that comics are really just a form of soulless corporate poetry. Still another is that the fiction of comics is an agreement made between creator and reader, just as these terms are. The work also evokes questions about creative appropriation and our own digital obsessions. Sikoryak (Masterpiece Comics) is an undeniably talented artist with a keen ability to capture different styles, as well as a sly conceptual satirist and prankster. Few will ever actually read these terms and conditions, but that’s basically the point. (Mar.)
