Tales to Behold is a webcomic by Paul Hoppe (AKA Beholder), chronicling the adventures of Captain Evening and the Odds as they battle various supervillains. The official series can be read here
. There are also stories published on Beholder's page at DeviantArt.
There is also a sister series, Section P, and Captain Evening plays a prominent role in Strange Tales of the DA Multiverse.
This series contains examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Rodney is a heavy drinker.
- The Atoner: Kate Five was originally a supervillain; her merger with Ghede was rougher than expected and his primitive instincts cuased her to kill and maim some people before she got him under control.
- Author Appeal: As Beholder is a naturism enthusiast, the series often features uncensored (though not pornographic) nudity.
- Back from the Dead: After being dead for a while, Kate Five suddenly returns to life thanks to her connection with her symbiote, just in time for the birth of her lover Centennia's daughter.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: Sharply averted; all the humanoid characters in the series have nipples and genitalia.
- Bed Trick: In the "Nite Girl" arc, Captain Evening tries to get his girlfriend Jesse to become his new sidekick, Nite Girl. She isn't interested in becoming a superhero, so she instead convinces Katie Wright, better known as Ionic Angel, to don the costume and pretend to be her. While posing as Nite Girl, Katie decides to have sex with Captain Evening, who has no idea that she isn't Jesse.
- But Not Too Bi: Frequent guest star Ultimate Power is bisexual, according to creator Tony Smith, but in Tales, his on-panel hook-ups are all with women.
- The Cape: Captain Perfect is a parody of the concept, being a Flying Brick who's also a womanizing ass.
- Cosmic Keystone: According to Strange Tales of the DA Multiverse, every universe has its own version of Captain Evening, and if a universe loses their version, it gets irreparably altered.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: One of Captain Evening's paramours is Jesse Brain, the daughter of his nemesis Dr. Brain.
- Dem Bones: In "The Skeleton Crown Affair", White Light leads an improvised crew against Ossibus, the Bone God.
- Destructo-Nookie: Centennia and Kate Five decide to celebrate Kate's return with some good hard sex. Considering how powerful they both are, they end up doing a lot of damage to Captain Perfect's apartment.
- Ethical Slut: Many of the characters are in open relationships with each other.
- Everyone Has Lots of Sex: Most of the cast is pretty sexually active, particularly in "Battle in Crisis", where most of them get stuck in quarantine and decide to kill time by engaging in as much sex as possible.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Dr. Brain is a mad scientist whose head is a glass ball with brain inside.
- Expy: As this series is an affectionate tribute to Silver Age comics, it often features thinly-veiled expies of famous heroes, most notably Rockslab, who is a barely-concealed expy of Thing from the Fantastic Four.
- Friendly Skeleton: Armstrong the Human Skeleton is, as his name suggests, a talking skeleton. He's one of the good guys.
- Full-Frontal Assault: In "The Mighty Bares", the team is hired to investigate a strange occurrences at a nudist resort. Naturally, they all end up naked by the end of it, and have to fight giant insects in the buff.
- Funny Animal: Rodney is an anthropomorphic rabbit. He's also an alcoholic.
- Going Commando: Very few of the series regulars bother with underwear. Special mention goes to Kimberly Jones, who often walks around wearing only a t-shirt.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: During the "Battle in Crisis" arc, villains Pogo Pirate and Harvester end up stuck in the Fortress of Evening due to the quarantine, and are eventually allowed to join in the Odds'... activites.
- Homosexual Reproduction: Claire Jones is the future biological daughter of Kate Five and Centennia. It's eventually revealed how - Kate's symbiote impregnated Centennia, which is also how Claire inherited Kate's symbiote powers.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Brain, full stop. In his first appearance, he creates a large portal just to dispose of paperwork.
- Naked on Arrival: Time-traveler Claire arrives in the present naked, in a homage to the Terminator franchise.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: According to Ionic Angel's creator, she is a teenager, but for her guest appearances in Tales to Behold, she is written as at least 18 years old.
- Public Domain Character: The series features guest appearances by Jenny Everywhere and Max Atom, both of whom are fair-use characters.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: In "The Skeleton Crown Affair", White Light has to battle Ossibus the Bone God using only the nearest available superheroes.
- Really Gets Around: In "Gary's Busy Day", Captain Perfect blows off a whole day of superheroics to have sex with Jeannette. Then Claire shows up for a training session and he convinces her to blow that off for sex. And just when he's gotten his costume on and is ready to go out the door, Centennia shows up and has her way with him.
- Ripped from the Headlines: The "Battle in Crisis" arc, beginning in 2020, sees many of the Odds stuck in quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving their less immunologically-vulnerable colleagues to tackle all the various crimes, invasions, and other weirdness going on outside.
- Sex Is Interesting: The series often delves into the sex lives of the characters whenever Beholder needs some filler.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Cassandra is a shameless exhibitionist, often walking around in just a full-body symbiotic suit.
- Skewed Priorities: In "Attention Deficit", Captain Evening and Ionic Angel talk about their complicated relationship while hanging over a boiling pot. Dr. Brain is incensed that they refuse to take his attempt to kill them seriously.
- Statuesque Stunner: Kimberly Jones, AKA Emerald Valkyrie, is a tall, muscular, attractive redhead. Her sister Kate is similarly built.
- Superpowered Evil Side: White Light's nemesis Hexia is actually an alternate personality of White Light herself.
- Tangled Family Tree: The Beholderverse is, in fact, a multiverse, with all the headaches that implies.
- Claire Jones is the future daughter of Kate Five and Centennia.
- Rae is the future daughter of Nattie, who is herself an alternate-reality version of Jeanette.
- Cery (AKA Ms. Perfect) is the alternate-future daughter of Centennia and Captain Perfect. Centennia, who happens to be pregnant with Kate Five's child when she first meets Cery, is weirded out by this.
- Talk Show Appearance: One multipart story in sees Kate Five going on a talk show to discuss her recent return from the dead.
- Trans Equals Gay: Defied in one comic where a reporter brings up Captain Perfect's relationship with Jeanette and asks if the fact that he's dating a trans woman means he's gay. Gary's response is to ask if a gay man would grope Jeanette's breasts as much as he does.
- Weirdness Censor: In "Rockin' the Paper Scissors", Liath attends a ribbon-cutting ceremony while in her usual garb, which includes gauntlets, boots, and absolutely nothing covering her torso except some war paint. Nobody seems to find this odd.
