Tired of Sticky Cubes?

Regular readers will know that I've got more than a passing interest in the advertising that litters the pages of whatever back issues I happen to be reading, whether it comes in the form of house ads, shills for Big Jim's P.A.C.K., or the inexplicably enticing full-page promo for Megaforce. They're just fascinating indicators of what things were like when the comics came out, sometimes even more than the stories themselves.

And sometimes, every once in a while, there's one that transcends all that and achieves a certain perfect beauty on its own, the kind of advertising nirvana that can only be attained by a product that fills a niche so small in such a narrowly-defined era that it could have no discernable use today.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of those ads. From the pages of DC Comics Presents #46, I give you...

CUBE LUBE

Yes, 1982's modern science had met all challenges it was faced with and so set out to conquer the only remaining frontier: Rubik's Cubes that didn't turn fast enough.

Seriously. Cube Lube. What were they thinking?