Monday, March 20, 2006

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?
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10 comments:

  1. Mark W. Hale3/21/2006 2:00 AM

    Hooray for Cube Lube!

    Hooray for America and her scientists!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ragnell3/21/2006 6:14 AM

    I wish I'd known about that product before it was too late.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Canton3/21/2006 8:29 AM

    Heh. Wonder how they wrote up the patent on this one...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Diamondrock3/21/2006 8:38 AM

    If... If I'd had Cube Lube then maybe I wouldn't have lost the 1997 Rubik's Cube World Championship to that Chinese guy.

    WHY? WHY SO LATE?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous3/21/2006 11:00 PM

    And much like that finger sized massager thing, I'm sure it's ONLY used for its stated purpose.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Canton3/21/2006 11:13 PM

    So you know some puzzle "enthusiasts," eh, Arizona?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chris Sims3/21/2006 11:32 PM

    "Because until you try it, you just don't know how fast you can go."

    Cough cough.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous3/22/2006 11:16 AM

    Those who go for various speed records with the Cube still use oils:

    http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/rubikscube.htm#Richten%20mit%20der%20Stoppuhr

    More on it over at Slashdot, of course:

    http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/16/213232

    ReplyDelete
  9. Enoch9/24/2011 6:57 AM

    The author is absolutely right, and there is no question.
    double front doors | short term loans | copper prices

    ReplyDelete
  10. Unknown5/17/2013 10:41 PM

    That's pretty cool! I will have to get some cube lube! I had never heard of it before, and my friend said i should look it up.

    ReplyDelete