Milk Toast Malt Shop

A wretched hive of scum and vanilla.

The Milk Toast Malt Shop (or Milktoast Malt Shop) is a parlour on Asteroid 43KX. Don't let its name fool you; if visitors are not put off by the only access to the Malt Shop being a single log bridge over a Crocogater-infested moat, they might yet turn back at the "no sissies allowed" sign out front.

Fiction

The Milk Toast Malt Shop was located on Asteroid 43KX. It was a subsidiary of Cadence Industries. In addition to malts, it also served Gxyzpldberry sundaes, thick shakes, and banana splits. Malt Shop Menace

On the quest for his long lost parents, Planet Terry found some answers in an unlikely place when he met former Confederation Astro Patrol engineer Enoch Diggs on a small planetoid. Diggs' memory was hazy, so he encouraged Terry to find more answers from his former Space Warp colleague Squink, who could be found spending his retirement at the Milk Toast Malt Shop on Asteroid 43KX. After he waved Terry and Robota off on their journey, Diggs privately confided to his Burrobot Hee Haw that they'd need luck at the Milk Toast Malt Shop. Some Answers

Terry touched his ship down on Asteroid 43KX within walking distance of the Milk Toast Malt Shop. In order to reach it, he and Robota had to brave walking along a log across a moat infested with Crocogaters. At the same time, the fearsome Omnus was coming in the opposite direction, threatening to smash anything in his way. When he came face to face with Terry, he took a swing at him, but landed in the moat. Robota went to his rescue, and a cowed Omnus wandered off, saying he owed them.

On entering the malt shop, Terry and Robota were surprised to find it was more of a filthy dive bar, patronised by myriad burly aliens. Ordering a chocolate malt – and one with a shot of oil for Robota – Terry asked a bartender if he'd seen a man named Squink. Directed to the other end of the bar, they found Squink demanding another banana split; when the former radioman became violent after being refused service, the boss bartender set his bouncers Morthrott and Grmbil on him, with an eye to throwing him to the gators. Squink apparently fainted, and Terry and Robota tried to prevent the bouncers from taking him, but they were soon overpowered.

The pair were rescued by Omnus, who had come to return his favour. As he, Terry, and Robota fled the malt shop with Squink carried over the gynoid's shoulder, the bar staff chased after them with weapons. Terry slowed down their pursuers by kicking the log bridge loose from its moorings. Omnus joined Terry's crew on the basis that he couldn't stick around on Asteroid 43KX much longer. Malt Shop Menace

Staff

Boss bartender

A alien that gave orders, and to whom Morthrott and Grmbil referred to as "boss", tended bar at the Malt Shop. Terry and Robota became aware of him when they first spotted Squink. Squink was demanding another banana split, but the boss bartender was refusing to serve him as he was over the limit – according to the buckling of his bar stool. Deciding Squink had caused enough grief, he called Morthrott and Grmbil over to throw him to the gators, and when Terry and Robota came to his rescue, the boss ordered his bouncers to throw them to the gators as well. When Omnus joined the fray, he sicced them on him as well.

Fish person bartender

The first bartender Terry and Robota approached seemed much more personable, taking orders from regulars and strangers alike and directing the two explorers to Squink when asked.

Morthrott and Grmbil

Morthrott and Grmbil served as the security for the Malt Shop.

Notable patrons

Squink

Squink was known by name by the bar staff. The fish person bartender described him as the "ice cream freak". A recurring troublemaker, the boss had apparently called Morthrott and Grmbil on him before.

Fourth-wall breaking demon

A caprine or bovine alien with three horns looked over his shoulder directly at me and asked what I was looking at. Flip me that's frightening.

Notes

The boss is at the back, behind the moth guy and in front of Zog (the mighty dragon).

• The name is spelled "Milktoast Malt Shop" in dialogue, but the sign as actually seen on the building spells it "Milk Toast Malt Shop", so we're stuck with that.
• Cadence Industries was, at the time of publication, the real world parent company of Marvel Comics.
• The boss bartender goes on to appear as a background character in the first issue  of the 2009-2010 miniseries X-Babies;  the fish person bartender joins the fray in the second issue.