Though the Austin-based Odd City hasn’t been around very long, the two poster releases they do have under their belt—a Chuck Sperry Dazed and Confused print and a pitch-perfect Amityville Horror print from N.E.—have been enormously impressive, an absolute cut above most of the ho-hum filler that’s slowly been flooding the market over the past year.  So, when Odd City dropped us a line to tell us about the “very busy” summer they’re expecting to have and the subscription model they’re offering buyers, we couldn’t help but take note.  Wanna know everything we know?  Meet me after the jump, folks.

We haven’t spent a lot of time discussing the matter here at Limited Paper, but the truth is this:  there’s a whole lotta mediocre product being pumped into Poster World these days.  We do our best to weed out the worst offenders in our coverage here at Collider.com, but even if we don’t issue a breathless announcement about the world’s 435th poster for The Life Aquatic, chances are that you’ve become aware (and, thus, bored to tears) by that poster’s announcement elsewhere.  This is what happens when something becomes super-popular in a very short amount of time, and—as you surely know—there are few hobbies more popular at the moment than poster collecting.

Good news is, it ain’t all mediocre.  Some of the stuff being dropped is absolutely fantastic, and exciting new artists are being discovered all the time.  And among the very few galleries/retailers we’d consider “worth following” here at Limited Paper, Austin’s recently-established Odd City is one of the absolute best.  True, they’ve only released two posters thus far (the Chuck Sperry Dazed and Confused you see above and N.E.’s Amityville Horror, seen below), but those two posters are lightyears better than so many other prints we’ve seen dropped in the past year that it’s impossible not to take note.  The fact that their first two drops were created by two poster-industry veterans is also worth paying attention to.

And so, when the following press release dropped into the Limited Paper inbox this morning, there was much rejoicing (prepare thyself for a massive blockquote):

Odd City anticipates a very BIG and busy summer. We would like to say that things are going to get easier on drop day, but we plan on keeping our run sizes low and have some amazing artists and properties that we are working with. We listened when you asked for some of the larger new and old licenses, and can predict that drop days are only going to get crazier.

This is why today, we are announcing our first Odd City Print and Event Subscription! We are opening up a limited number of spots at a few different price levels to give everyone an opportunity to purchase a plan to fit any budget or extravagance. This is our way of saying “thank you” to all those who have supported us and also provide a way for international fans to obtain our prints.

In the interest of full disclosure, we had planned on having special editions available for every print at the “Connoisseur” level, but some of our favorite artists simply don’t work that way.  We have, however, worked out four standout exclusives for this level. Additionally, there are Metal and/or Wood variants at every level with matching numbers on the paper editions through the life of the subscription!

That’s a lot to digest, I know.  Matching numbers?  Tiered pricing plans?  A “very BIG and busy” summer?  Metal variants?  Take your time reading through all that, and then check out what you can get (and for how much) via the following subscription tiers:

  • “The Fan” Level ($500): includes 16 Regular Editions, 1 Metal Variant, T-shirts, stickers, handbills and “some other goodies” Odd City has up their sleeve.
  • “The Collector” Level ($1,000): includes 16 Regular Editions, 16 Variant editions, 2 Metal/Wood variants, T-shirts, stickers, handbills and other surprises.
  • “The Connoisseur” Level ($1,250, only 15 available): includes 16 Regular Editions, 16 Variant Editions, 2 Metal/Wood Variants, 4 Exclusive Variants, Amityville Horror Exclusive Nighttime Wood Variant, VIP Access to Odd City Events, T-shirts, stickers, handbills and other surprises.

The idea of offering a subscription model to fans is something that’s come up just about every time a major gallery or poster retailer has been interviewed in the past few years.  Some artists have offered such a subscription plan to their regular customers, but many of the biggest poster sellers (Mondo included) have shied away from the practice in the past.  Will the process create unforeseen headaches for the Odd City crew?  Deliver on everything that it promises?  Maintain the quality that we’ve seen over Odd City’s last two releases?  We’ll have to wait and see, but I’ll say this:  if Limited Paper wasn’t totally broke in advance of a wedding/Vegas honeymoon next month, we’d bet on Odd City’s success by handing over some of our hard-won dollars.

Here's Odd City's Twitter and Facebook page for more info.

What do you guys think?  Gonna take the plunge?  Think you’ll hold off a bit?  Let us know in the comments section below.  Everyone else:  if you’re an artist or gallery with artwork you’d like to see featured on Limited Paper (or if you’re just some lucky bastard who happened to overhear a bit of poster-related gossip while standing in the bushes outside Martin Ansin’s house) we wanna hear from you!  Email Limited Paper directly at LimitedPaper@gmail.com, and be sure that you’re following us on Twitter via @LimitedPaper for ongoing commentary, news updates, giveaways, and more!