Day Off (or Harmony in My Head)

Day Off (or Harmony in My Head)
Publication	December 24, 2014
Length	22 pages
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten #10
← Previous	Return to Sunnydale, Part Two
Next →	Love Dares You, Part One
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics
Writer(s)	Christos Gage
Penciller(s)	Rebekah Isaacs
Editor(s)	Sierra Hahn & Scott Allie
Cover artist(s)	Steve Morris Rebekah Isaacs
Inker(s)	Rebekah Isaacs
Colorist(s)	Dan Jackson
Letterer(s)	Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt

Day Off (or Harmony in My Head) is the tenth issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten comic book series. Joss Whedon is the executive producer.

Synopsis

With the responsibility of writing new rules in the Vampyr book, Buffy and crew are literally the bosses of all magic – but as more baddies learn who has the power, protecting the book is becoming a full-time job!

Summary

At their apartment, Willow is preparing for a job interview with Theo Daniels. Buffy is committed to being the Slayer full time, and doesn't plan to become a consultant for the Supernatural Crimes Unit like Spike has because the work is "spotty."

Outside, a leprechaun, Lucky Cat, and slime man are outside, hassling Buffy and co about requirements involving the Slayer Handbook and the new magic rules. Willow is quite nervous, fearing she may ruin magic if they mess this up, but Buffy reassures her she's perfectly qualified to do it and she's not doing it alone.

At that moment, D'Hoffryn appears, reminding them they have his advice and that of the Magic Council, and reports he has no lead on the Soul Glutton and the Mistress; to find them, he'll need the assistance of the book. Buffy decides to save it for later, and talk to the others outside about proposed rule changes.

After talking to the leprechaun, Buffy is appalled when Vicki enters as a representative of the new vampires, along with Harmony and Clem. Vicki refuses to let Buffy use the book to strip the new vampires of their enhanced powers, but Harmony cuts in, insisting that Vicki and her associates will follow Reform Vampirism. Pointing out that they can't take away the new vampires' powers since they're already written in the book, Harmony proposes that they add a rule that the new vampires can walk in daylight, but can't shapeshift during the day, like in the old Dracula novel. While neither Buffy nor Vicki are happy with either one, both ultimately give in and accept the new rule.

With that, Buffy sits down, and Dawn reveals passes to a spa that Theo gave him for them to relax. While happy, Buffy is unwilling to leave the book in the open, but Willow assures them that her magic wards are in space and any vampire that gets near the book will burst into flame. Buffy gives in at that, and they go, unaware of a figure lurking outside the door...

In Xander and Spike's apartment, Xander is going for another session with Dr. Mike, while Spike is looking over supernatural crime case files. As soon as Xander leaves, Spike hears a knock on the door, and is surprised to see Harmony and Clem, though he lets them in. After a moment of chatting, Harmony bashes Spike unconscious and gets to work looking for the Vampyr book.

At the Pamper-U Day Spa, Buffy makes small talk with Dawn, asking how things with her and Xander are going and pointing out that if she takes too long, Xander will have moved on. Dawn retorts that the same could easily apply to her relationships with Spike, Angel, and Dowling.

Back at the apartment, Harmony declares that she wants to use the book to make Reform Vampirism a new rule of magic itself, and to be nice, to arrange for Buffy, Spike, and Angel to settle down in a polyamorous relationship, and most of all, to make herself the most beloved person on Earth... and at that moment, Spike regains consciousness and snatches the book back.

Harmony is furious to discover that Clem didn't write down any of the things she said. Clem explains that what he wrote down most likely wouldn't have come out right, and that planning to use it to make herself the most beloved person on Earth, and that Harmony deserves to be loved for herself rather than making people love her. Harmony just slaps him across the face and storms out, ranting about how Clem doesn't actually care about her... but much to her joy, she discovers that Clem did right something down; unicorns are now real.

Overlooking the book, Spike is tempted to write down that he would fulfill the Shanshu Prophecy and live as a human with Buffy, but Xander enters at that moment, remarking that it wouldn't give one party a choice. Xander admits he's been tempted to do the same with Dawn, and Dawn even suggested it, but he won't do it because it won't be real love. Spike recalls that his old soulless self would have done so in a heartbeat, but he won't; Buffy's happy, and he's content to just be friends with her and move on.

Unbeknownst to them, Buffy has overheard the entire conversation, and goes back, deciding to leave them alone for now and retrieve the book later.

Down in the Black Diamond Mines, the Mistress, the Soul Glutton, and a third demon are hiding out, discussing plans to defeat Buffy once and for all.

Continuity

• This issue maintains the tradition of Harmony centric episodes using her name in the title: "Disharmony", "Harm's Way", Harmonic Divergence, Harmony Bites, Harmony Comes to the Nation, In Perfect Harmony.
• Willow recalls that Buffy saved Theo Daniels' life (Guarded, Part Three), and her time working at Doublemeat Palace (Buffy season 6).
• Willow says she's desperate for a job; she has mentioned her unemployment in I Wish, Part One.
• Spike gets to work as a supernatural crime consultant for the S.F.P.D., as Xander suggested in I Wish, Part Two.
• With the appearance of a leprechaun, this issue ends the running joke in the show that, despite all the mythical beings that existed in the universe, leprechauns were not one of them ("Faith, Hope & Trick," "Double or Nothing," "Unleashed").
• Buffy mentions her disagreement with Willow "the past year" during Season 9, due to the destruction of Seed of Wonder and consequential end of magic.
• Buffy and D'Hoffryn discuss about the attacks of the Soul Glutton (Return to Sunnydale, Part One) and the Mistress (I Wish, Part Two).
• Buffy and Vicki mention their last encounter, in which the vampire helped her and the Scooby Gang against zompires, only to then turn the battle against Buffy and her friends (New Rules, Part One).
• Harmony meets Buffy and Willow for the first time since "Crush" and "The Harsh Light of Day" respectively.
• Clem meets Buffy and Spike for the first time since "Empty Places" and "Potential" respectively.
• Harmony mentions her Harmony Rules from (In Perfect Harmony), which Vicki and her associates had agreed ti abide.
• Dawn mentions Buffy being a dedicated slayer since she was a sophomore ("Welcome to the Hellmouth"),
• Spike and Harmony talk about their sexual encounter in Spike and Faith.
• Clem express knowledge about the Vampyr book monkey's paw propriety, explored in New Rules, Part Four.
• Spike recalls the time he and Buffy destroyed an abandoned house ("Smashed").

Appearances

Individuals

• Buffy Summers
• Willow Rosenberg
• Xander Harris
• Dawn Summers
• Spike
• D'Hoffryn
• Harmony Kendall
• Clem
• Vicki
• Cedric the Slime Man
• Leprechaun
• Lucky Cat
• Soul Glutton
• The Sculptor
• The Mistress
• Angel (Only in visions)
• Illyria (Only in visions)
• Dracula (Only in visions)
• The Master (Only in visions)
• Robert Dowling (Only mentioned)
• Theo Daniels (Only mentioned)
• Mike (Only mentioned)
• Dullahan (Only mentioned)

Organization and Titles

• Scooby Gang
• Slayer
• Witch
• Magic Council (Only mentioned)
• San Francisco Police Department (Only mentioned)

Species

• Human
• Slayer
• Vampire
• New vampire
• Demon
• Loose-Skinned Demon
• Leprechaun
• Lucky Cat
• Unicorn
• Siren
• Brownie (Only mentioned)
• Banshee (Only mentioned)

Locations

• San Francisco, California
  • Buffy, Willow, and Dawn's apartment
  • Xander and Spike's apartment
  • Pamper-U Day Spa
• Antioch, California
  • Black Diamonds Mine

Weapons and Objects

• Vampyr
• Soul Glutton's trident

Death Count

None

Behind the Scenes

Collections

• "I Wish"

Pop Culture References

• The title is s reference to Buzzcocks's song "Harmony in My Head" (1979).
• Buffy has a poster of Gustav Klimt's painting The Kiss (Lovers) in her bedroom wall.
• Buffy quotes "Always after me lucky charms" from the movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997).
• Buffy had a poster of Gustav Klimt's painting "The Kiss" in her bedroom wall.
• Harmony compares herself to Mahatma Gandhi's leadership and non-violent stance.
• Buffy says they don't make enough Hemsworth brothers, referring to Chris, Liam and Luke Hemsworth.
• Harmony references Fifty Shades of Grey.
• Harmony mentions IKEA furniture.
• Dawn mentions the Bechdel test.
• Spike mentions Penthouse Forum.
• Clem compares the magic rules' behavior to "The Monkey's Paw" (1902) short story.

Gallery

Cover Artwork

Steve Morris main cover

Rebekah Isaacs variant

Preview