Bill Phillips had been publishing bodybuilding magazines and marketing nutritional supplements for years when he had a weird revelation at a trade show: many of the most loyal and enthusiastic readers he had were totally out of shape. From that uncomfortable realization came his popular Physique Transformation Contest (top prize that first year: Phillips's own Lamborghini), now world famous, and this book.

The three-times-a-week weightlifting program in Body for Lifeis deceptively simple. If you've spent any time in the gym, you've already done all the exercises. But Phillips includes a couple of high-intensity sets at the end of each exercise that should compound the training effect on each muscle group. Same goes for the cardiovascular exercise he recommends: just 20 minutes, three times a week. But those 20 minutes are spent jacking the intensity up and down, accomplishing more in less time.

Phillips arranges all this into a 12-week program, along with nutritional and motivational tips. Be warned that the nutritional advice gets a little spacey. For example, he puts "carbohydrates" and "vegetables" into separate categories, and recommends three daily doses of a nutritional supplement called Myoplex, which his company manufactures. (Fortunately, he gives tips on how to make each dose taste different, such as by adding drops of peppermint extract.) Despite this strangeness, Body for Lifestill motivates because so many others have achieved astounding results in similar 12-week windows, and the pictures and testimonials are here as evidence. —Lou Schuler

A KILLER WITH NO FACE, NO IDENTITY, AND A NAME THE WORLD WANTED TO FORGET: 

JASON BOURNE

Reenter the shadowy world of Jason Bourne, an expert assassin still plagued by the splintered nightmares of his former life. This time the stakes are higher than ever. For someone else has taken on the Bourne identity–a 

ruthless killer who must be stopped or the world will pay a devastating price. To succeed, the real Jason Bourne must maneuver through the dangerous labyrinth of international espionage–an exotic world filled with CIA plots, turncoat agents, and ever-shifting alliances–all the while hoping to find the truth behind his haunted memories and the answers to his own fragmented past. This time there are two Bournes–and one must die.

Sex and violence have never looked so...old. Meet Brit, the government's last line of defense when it comes to the really messy parts of keeping the world safe. When super-powered menaces threaten our home soil, send in this one-man killing machine: He's indestructible, unstoppable, and eligible for a senior citizen's discount. Brit and Jessica are having a good time raising their new son, Brittany Jr. With Brit back at his job with the government, they're well off and living large. That is, until a race of vicious aliens decides the time is right to strike Earth, and their first target is the United States of America. Brit's not likely to let something like that go down in his backyard.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the latest in a long tradition of young women who've been trained to give their lives in the war against vampires. We've gotten glimpses of these other women over the years on TV, in comics, and in books. Now for the first time, the writers from the television series, including the show's creator, Joss Whedon, and one of its stars, Amber `Tara` Benson, present the tales of these girls, with the help of comics greatest artists. Gene Colan, co-creator of Marvel's Blade and Tomb of Dracula, returns to Dark Horse for the story of a young black girl in 1970s New York, battling vampires. Tim Sale, fan-favorite artist of recent epics Batman: The Long Halloween and Superman for All Seasons teams with Joss Whedon for a grim tale of a medieval slayer. American comics legend P. Craig Russell (Dr. Strange, The Ring of the Nibelung) and international rising star Mira Friedmann (Actus Tragicus) also join the stellar lineup.

Fantasy

Paradise on earth? Why not. Our existence is precisely what we make it and by embracing the many pleasures life has to offer, we can have unlimited joy. Leo Buscaglia, who has already shown so many of us the way to more love and happiness, now offers refreshing, detailed advice on looking around us and finding delight in the simple things—in food, in flowers, in music, in dance, in books, in art, in memories, in our families, and in loving.

Step onto Bus 9 with Leo and open yourself to a life-affirming journey to paradise. It's the most important trip you'll ever take.

Cap is awakened in the dead of the night by agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., who need the kind of help only he can provide. But the corpse he finds on the Heli-carrier brings him face-to-face with the unthinkable, and opens doors to terror and manipulation he never dreamed possible! It's a new beginning as four-time Eisner-nominated Best Writer Ed Brubaker makes his Marvel debut, joined by white-hot artist Steve Epting! As the new regular creative team, they will take Cap's life in directions fans will never see coming! Collects Captain America (2005) #1-7.

The questions plaguing Captain America's dreams and memories have been answered in the most brutal way possible. And in the wake of this brutality, General Lukin makes his first all-out assault - tearing open old wounds and threatening to make new scars that will never heal! Collects Captain America #8, 9 and #11-14.

Meet Casanova Quinn: prodigal son of a law-and-order family hell-bent on keeping the world safe and sound, now blackmailed into betraying his father and the international law enforcement organization he controls. LUXURIA collects the first volume of CASANOVA as its titular star transforms from devil-may-care thrill-seeker into the most dangerous man in the world. What happens when the ultimate player gets played? ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY calls "Sexy... grapping and darkly funny." From the writer of THE ORDER, IMMORTAL IRON FIST and PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL and the artist of UMBRELLA ACADEMY!