Archie Sonic Universe Issue 4

Archie Sonic Universe Issue 4 is the fourth issue of the spin-off Sonic Universe comic book series published by Archie Comics.

Official Solicitation

 * "The Ultimate Lifeform": The all-out battle-turned-alliance between Shadow and Rouge takes a new twist... and there may be no turning back! Transported from G.U.N.'s secret base to the surreal Special Zone, the reluctant allies meet the zone's mega-powerful master, Feist. What will Feist require of them? Can they successfully complete the challenge as well as their other missions and tasks for G.U.N.? What would failure mean to Shadow, who considers himself the "ultimate lifeform?" This action-packed issue co-stars Hope Kintobor and Omega, and features the first assembly of "Team Dark." It also paves the way for the next intriguing saga, which promises to bring back everyone's favorite red echidna!

The Ultimate Lifeform!
The comic begins where Rouge the Bat and Shadow the Hedgehog are about to enter the Special Zone to retrieve a Chaos Emerald. Once they arrive they run into Feist, a panda god-like being. In order to retrieve the emerald Feist puts Shadow and Rouge through a test. Shadow tries to simply use chaos control but is unable to tap into the Chaos Energy. Feist tells him that he only has thirty more seconds to retrieve the Emerald. They fail the task and are transported back to G.U.N. Shadow blames himself for the loss and walks off defeated. Hope Kintobor later finds him and tells him that he did not fail but actually set himself up for future success. Rouge and Shadow return to the special zone with E-123 Omega as "Team Dark". Feist gives them another challenge to complete which they again fail. Omega then fires at Feist allowing Shadow and Rouge to retrieve the Emerald.

An additional page of a preview of the next story arc, Mobius: 30 Years Later is included, with Knuckles and Julie Su depart to make peace with the Mazuri Separatists, leaving Lara-Su in charge.

Off Panel
Shadow, Rouge, Omega and Hope are playing "Go Fish" when Shadow thinks of a joke. Tower is doing battle with Feist who asks him to look up his species. Tower reads that pandas "Eat, chutes and leaves" (a pun of eats, shoots and leaves). Shadow cracks up while the other members remained unhumoured and continue with their game of Go Fish.

Other Features

 * Sonic Checklist
 * Fan Letters

Trivia

 * In the comic, Feist appears as a large, overweight panda, but in the Off Panel, he was shown quite muscular and tough. However, this might not be canon because it was part of Off Panel.
 * The 'trials' that Shadow, Rouge, and Omega face are actually special stages from Sonic 3D Blast and the original Sonic the Hedgehog, with the Chaos Emerald as the goal.
 * Additionally, the second trial bears a striking resemblance to the 4th Special Stage in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I.
 * This was the last issue to feature "Off-Panel" until issue 7.
 * When confronted with Feist for the first time, Rouge's data scanner is going wild. This can be a reference to the popular line "It's over 9000!" in Dragonball Z.
 * When Hope and Shadow are on the cliffside, Hope mentions Soleanna, the city in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
 * Shadow, Rouge and Omega heading into the Special Zone are known as Team Dark, the team that they were in Sonic Heroes.