The series began as Our Army At War and although in time the title began to display the tag-line featuring Sgt. Rock, it wasn't until the series had lasted 301 issues that it was re-named to Sgt. Rock.

Like DC's popular science-fiction comics "Mystery in Space" and "Strange Adventures," "House of Mystery" was a wide ranging anthology title, but what made it different was that its content was mostly horror themed. The title's first issue contained stories of the supernatural like "Wanda was a werewolf" to articles debunking spiritualism. The meat of the series' early issues was occult stories mixed with crime thrillers, plus the occasional foray into science fiction. However, with the Comics Code Authority of 1954 - brought about because of public concerns regarding "inappropriate material in comics"- horror themes featuring werewolves, vampires etc were banned. "House of Mystery" was therefore forced to gradually re-focus itself as a suspense and science fiction title.