Operation Comics began as a grant-funded project to develop a unique format for presenting grade-appropriate mathematics, as determined by NCTM standards, to students in grades 4 through 6. The comics, in print form, have been piloted at Cumberland Trace Elementary in Bowling Green, Kentucky, since January 2009.

The stories involve the adventures of Wonderguy, a strongman superhero who goes about doing good deeds, with the assistance of two very intelligent elementary school students, Claire and Dillon. In this second issue, Wonderguy encounters a villain named the Shape Master. He used to be Ernie Schwump, a shiftless worker at a government research facility, until he messed with some equipment he should not have. Now he is able to change shapes at will, and he decides to use this power for evil. It's up to Wonderguy, Claire, and Dillon to find his weakness, and put a stop to his shenanigans.

In this issue, the mathematics concepts of the volume of a rectangular prism, cylinder, and sphere are presented. A sample from the comic, a teacher supplement, and worksheets for the comic are available free at works.bepress.com/bruce_kessler/.

Please note that, although the comics are formatted for correct display for the NOOK, NOOKcolor, and both PC and Mac reader applications, the comics do not display correctly on the NOOK application for the iPhone. For best results with the NOOK and NOOKcolor, set Publisher Defaults to OFF, and adjust the margins if the comic should run off the side of your NOOK's page.