The "Ferd'nand" comic strip for 9/22/81 features the cube.
(For those who don't see this strip: it's pure mime, with no word balloons.
Panel 1: Ferd'nand sits in an armchair, struggling with a (scrambled) cube.
Panel 2: In disgust he throws it out of a window.
Panel 3: The cube sits on the lawn. Ferd'nand turns away, but still is
glaring over his shoulder at the cube.
Panel 4: Fred'nand is sitting on the grass where the cube had landed,
struggling away again.
Know the feeling?)
--Guy