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Action Duo Vesper and Corrick are knee-deep in...

"Revenge is like a plume of smoke."

Plume is a fantasy/western adventure webcomic written and illustrated by Kari Smith.

It's the times of The Wild West and Vesper Gray is living a rather boring life under the thumb of her strict aunt, dreaming of one day joining her Adventurer Archaeologist father. Things change when she almost dies and is saved at the last moment by Corrick - a supernatural entity bound to protect those who wear an amulet given to Vesper by her dad years ago.

Shortly after Vesper gets used to Corrick's implaceable presence, her father returns to take her with him on his next adventure. Things are going fine until he's killed and his life's work stolen. Motivated by both her desire to reclaim the many magical artifacts and the need for revenge, Vesper (accompanied by reluctant Corrick) sets out to face the Weird West. It's not as easy as she think, though...

As of 2017, the comic has reached its conclusion.


This webcomic provides examples of:

  • Action Duo: If the numerous dead bodies surrounding the two in the first few pages are any indication.
  • Adventurer Archaeologist: It seems Vesper's father is this.
  • Ambiguously Brown: The Hunter. He looks black, but he has green eyes.
  • Ancient Artifact: Corrick himself.
  • Arch-Enemy: Aunt Agatha Murdock was Vesper’s first arch nemesis.
  • Bad Ass In A Nice Suit: Corrick’s got a pretty swanky outfit. Word of God has it his design was partially based off Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist.
  • Berserk Button: Corrick goes ballistic when Dom says he "owns him".
    Corrick (nearly growling): Let me get this straight. You own the necklace. Not me.
  • Black Cloak: The returned Azeel sports it, hiding most of his face.
  • Black Magic: Whatever the last ruler of Auru used on his city, it destroyed it. Corrick outright calls it black magic.
  • Bling-Bling-BANG!: Dom's gun looks like it's plated with gold.
  • Blood Knight: Vesper's "But God help me, killing is therapeutic."
  • Bounty Hunter: The man known only as Hunter, whom Vesper's aunt hires to track the girl down.
  • Big Brother Bully: Aricon to Corrick. He essentially forced him to become who he is now out of paranoia, without consulting it or asking for permission.
  • Cain and Abel: Corrick's older brother killed the oldest one to get to the throne. In a subversion, it's the younger sibling who's evil.
  • Came Back Wrong: Azeel returned from the dead as some sort of Black Magic monster.
  • City of Gold: Auru used to be this, as evidenced by its moniker "City Laced With Gold". We don't see much of it in its golden age (pun unintended), but gold seems to be the most common method of decoration. By the time Vesper's father visited it, though, it was just ruins.
  • Cold Snap: Chapter Ten suddenly switches from classic Wild West imagery to heavy snowfall, on the account of Time Skip.
  • Color Motif: Gold. Auru is a city of gold, Dom has a golden gun, Corrick has Supernatural Gold Eyes, non-Black Magic glows gold and the spellbook is written in gold as well.
  • Combat Tentacles: Azeel has those, made from Black Magic.
  • Contrived Coincidence: Hunter just so happens to be looking for Vesper in the same town - bah, on the same street! - that Corrick and Dom are in at the moment.
  • Cry into Chest: Vesper, into Corrick's chest, after her father dies.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • With Corrick's powers, the problem is finding Dom, not capturing him.
    • Azeel wrecks the entire party effortlessly.
  • Depower:
    • It's implied that this is what Magnus wants to do for Corrick. In a twist, this time it's a good thing, as the character to be subjected exhibits I Just Want to Be Normal.
    • Azeel does that to Corrick during their battle.
  • Diabolus ex Machina: Chapter Nine is a big fat one. Vesper, Tegan and Corrick have captured Dom and are going to bring him to justice. It seems like Vesper will have her revenge when Azeel shows up to menace Corrick and Dom manages to get ahold of Corrick's amulet in the ensuing chaos.
  • Distressed Dude: Vesper seems to consider Corrick to be this following the events of Chapter 9. He seems to be dealing with it, though.
  • Dope Slap: Corrick gives Vesper one for walking on thin ice just after meeting her. He does that to Dom, too, when chiding him.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Hunter is always referred to as "the Hunter", and he's a bounty hunter.
  • The Evil Prince: Aricon, who murdered his older brother to become the king.
  • Evil Uncle: Aunt, actually. Also, not really evil, just strict.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Unwilling one. Corrick is forced to serve Dom after the latter gets ahold of his amulet.
  • Foil:
    • Corrick and Vesper. The former is a jaded immortal trying to play the part of a responisble adult, while the latter is a carefree young woman with a violent streak.
    • Corrick and Azeel. Both are Aurans who were turned by magic, but while the former's mission is to protect and he detests the job most of the time, the latter is a destroyer and enjoys himself.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Dom's got one across his eye apparently because Vesper's dad tried to kill him
  • Glowing Eyes: Corrick’s eyes are always glowing, but they get special mention for his power moments.
  • Guardian Entity: Corrick is intended to be this.
  • Hero of Another Story: Corrick and Magnus have a lot of history of adventure together, but we only get to see and hear snippets of it.
  • Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Tegan, who goes with Vesper and keeps her company for over three months before making a vague suggestion that the latter might be a Windmill Crusader.
  • Hot Wings: The power granted by the Mask of the Seraphim, except sevenfold.
  • Ignore the Fanservice: Corrick. oh so much
  • Internal Reveal: Corrick and Dom find out that the two bounty hunters are after the former, not the latter, several pages after readers do.
  • In the Blood: After telling Vesper the story of his brother, Corrick depressedly concludes that franticide must run in his family.
  • It's All About Me: Dom is so convinced that everything in the world is about him, when a pair of bounty hunters starts to tail him and Corrick, he's immediately convinced they're after him and actually considers shooting them both when this turns out not to be the case.
  • King Incognito: With Aricon dead and Azeel dead-and-evil, Corrick is the legitimate king of Auru. Not that it counts for much these days after Aricon's astonishing tenure as a ruler.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Corrick has become incredibly jaded over the last several hundred years, but he manages to bond with Vesper.
  • Lady of Adventure: Vesper. It seems she always wanted to be one.
  • Legacy of Service: Corrick has been bound to protect the wearer of the amulet for almost 600 years.
  • Like an Old Married Couple: Corrick and Dom, although the former seems to loathe the latter.
  • Limited Wardrobe: While Vesper changes clothes several times, Corrick continues to wear his trademark coat regardless of wheather it's freezing cold or frying hot.
  • Literal Metaphor: When Dom is nearly clotheslined, one might assume it means he almost fell victim to wrestling attac called like this. Nope - it was literal clothesline he almost run into.
  • Made of Iron: Tegan somehow survives being thrown good ten metres in the air and crashing into the ground with not even a broken bone.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: Aricon killed Azeel and made it look like the latter drowned. He's actually surprised that Corrick didn't catch up on this until he pretty much spelled it out for him.
  • Mask of Power: The Mask of the Seraphim, giving Super-Speed.
  • Muggle Best Friend: Magnus seems to have been this for Corrick. He seems to be one of the few protectees Corrick actually liked and he was even trying to find a way to bring Corrick back to normal.
  • Mystical White Hair:
    • Corrick got those after his ascension to guardian spirit. They used to be blonde.
    • Ditto Azeel, although he's another trope, too.
  • Odd Name Out: The three siblings were Azeel, Aricon and Corrick, who breaks the theme naming and was the one to become magical.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Corrick falls eerily emotionless and silent when he's forced to attack Vesper to protect Dom.
  • "Open!" Says Me: Vesper enthusiastically kicks open a locked treasure chest.
  • The Paranoiac: The last king of Auru was obsessed with the idea that someone's going to try and kill him. Becomes a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of sorts after his actions cause Corrick to detest him to the point that he dreams of nothing more than killing him.
  • Powers Do the Fighting: Azeel spends the entire fight standing while his Combat Tentacles are Curb Stomping everyone.
  • Properly Paranoid: Aricon, by the way of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. His actions cause Corrick to want to kill him, just as Aricon feared he had wanted before the spell.
  • Psychopathic Man Child: Dom acts like a bratty kid most of the time, but he's also a ruthless murderer.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Corrick is only a century younger than the trope says.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Vesper and Corrick. Vesper is a hot-blooded young woman who wants adventure! and a budding Blood Knight, while Corrick is calmer, more jaded and cynical about the world, not to mention more used to it. He even wears blue coat to underline the point.
  • Restraining Bolt: The amulet forces Corrick to protect anyone who holds it and doesn't let him harm that person.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Vesper starts on one after Dominic kills her father despite Corrick's advice that she should just let it go.
  • Servile Snarker: Corrick. Exaggerated after he's forced to protect Dom.
  • Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Tegan, a Hooker with a Heart of Gold who helps Vesper and Corrick find Dom.
  • Snark Knight: Corrick's way to deal with his protectees and the world around him is to snark. A lot.
  • Speak in Unison: Corrick and Magnus have the same reaction to Vesper using some foul language.
    Vesper, watch your mouth.
  • Spell Book: The book which was used to turn Corrick into a guardian spirit and which seems to be shaping up to become the story's prime MacGuffin.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: Corrick's eyes glow gold, especially when he starts to use his powers.
  • Super-Senses: One of Corrick's less noticeable powers is his "hawk vision".
  • Super-Strength: Given by the Powerstone.
  • Tempting Fate: When this is done, the power of the amulet weakens.
  • The Thing That Would Not Leave: Corrick becomes this after saving Vesper for the first time, staying with her even when she bathes. Her aunt finds it especially annoying, but after a while, everyone just accepts this.
  • Time Skip: The story jumps three months between chapters nine and ten.
  • Title Drop: "My father used to say that revenge is like a plume of smoke."
  • Touch of Death: Under no circumstances should Vesper touch Corrick’s skin. Apparently it’d be very painful for her.
  • Unsound Effect: CLOTHESLINED!, as seen here.
  • Weird West: Wild West with a ton of magic artifacts which are apparently all working.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Azeel, on account of Mystical White Hair mixing with Black Magic.
  • The Wild West: The setting for Plume.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Corrick pretty much stated this when Tegan was flirting with him
    Tegan: You have very striking eyes...
    Corrick: You'll find my hand striking too if you don't back up.

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