Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading ... so here's this month's grading diary.

TOOK ME LONG ENOUGH ...
The Mag: Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce -- Mad No 36 (April 2024)
The Reason Graded: With the Grammys set for tonight (Feb. 1), I figured now would be the time to drop one here for the Swifties -- a magazine that I picked off long, long ago with absolute intent to grade but never got around to it until late last year. This duo sold a lot of magazines in the last couple of years but this one was one of few to present itself in a way that would fit in my collection of slabs -- it's one part sports (he's in uniform) and one part comics/satire, a category where I have a few slabs. These were popular -- so much so there was at least a second printing with a green logo -- but actually finding the long-running but off-and-on-title would be a challenge at arrival. Book stores/newsstands? Probably not. Comics shops? Maybe ... but probably not a big priority for many of them. The original Mad ran from 1952 to 2018 before DC Comics took over after a couple months off that year and it's largely been new covers wrapping mostly favorite reprinted stories from the past with occasional new content.
The Grade: CGC 9.6 (Universal)

Reality Check: These mags are super thin and the cover paper is, too. How skinny? The spines of new copies have texture all the way down from the folding -- I suspect they will be the huge problem spots if you find these un-graded with an eye for slabbing. Mine has that -- as do some 9.8s I looked at before slabbing -- so mine probably had one other small issue to kick it down a notch. That was a bummer -- and my latest mags submission didn't have a single 9.8 in it, which was odd -- but I was grading this no matter what as a time capsule kind of slab from the last few years.

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Here's this month's roundup of items that have recently caught my eye as a buyer ...

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IT'S ALWAYS TIFFY TIME
The Card: Tiffany Stratton 2023 Panini Immaculate Collection WWE Ruby Memorabilia Autographs (/25)
The Price: A meaty amount (for me)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Much like Rhea Ripley rookie autos in 2020, I've focused on trying to find one card from each of the lineups for Stratton's first year of ink in 2023 (RCs in 2022) with cleaner/full sigs on them and this brand was one of my targets for a while. I finally found one that looked good for a price I could pull off. Why chase? Stratton has delivered and figures to do so for some time with her latest big landmark moment being a bruiser of a win over Charlotte Flair at Wrestlemania. "Buff Barbie" is an informal nickname here so far -- they're avoiding trademark claims -- but they're also playing into that more and more with her Wrestlemania debut entrance having a Barbie Dreamhouse/packaging feel before a brawl that left her, in her own words, "looking like a broke down Barbie." That spectacle of an entrance and the match were both proof that the meteoric arrival and win over an all-time great at the biggest event of the year is just the start and the WWE is still fueling that rocket. I've been buying (this was a pre-Mania pick-up) and will keep looking for more somewhat selectively -- since stuff is at times pricey.
Grab a box: WWE cards are here.

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