Sgt. Rock (comics)

Sgt. Rock
Sgt. Rock from Our Army At War #196, artist Joe Kubert (Aug. 1968)
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Our Army at War #83 (June 1959)
Created by	Robert Kanigher (writer) Joe Kubert (artist)
In-story information
Full name	Franklin John Rock
Species	Human
Place of origin	Earth
Team affiliations	United States Army Easy Company Suicide Squad
Abilities	Trained marksman and U.S. Military combatant

Sgt. Franklin "Frank" John Rock is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Sgt. Rock first appeared in Our Army at War #83 (June 1959), and was created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. The character is a World War II veteran who served as an infantry non-commissioned officer.

Sgt. Rock's prototype first appeared in G.I. Combat #68 (January 1959). His rank is not given in this story; instead, he is merely called "The Rock". The Rock returned as a sergeant in Our Army at War #81 (April 1959) named "Sgt. Rocky" with his unit, Easy Company (the precise US Army infantry regiment to which Easy belonged was never identified during the history of the character). In this last prototype appearance with the Easy Company (as opposed to the nameless infantryman with a nickname, as he was portrayed previously), the story was actually written by Bob Haney, but the character's creator, Robert Kanigher was the editor. He would go on to create the bulk of the stories with Joe Kubert as the artist. In issue #82 (May 1959), he is called "Sgt. Rock" (name only) and by issue #83 (June 1959), he makes his first full appearance as Sgt. Rock.

Sgt. Rock steadily gained popularity, until, in 1977, the name of the comic was changed to Sgt. Rock. The comic ran until Sgt. Rock #422 (July 1988). In addition to the semi-regular comic, several "digests" were sold, under the DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest banner, reprinting stories from Our Army at War or Sgt. Rock. Some were subtitled as OAAW or Sgt. Rock, some as Sgt. Rock's Prize Battle Tales. (The Prize Battle Tales title was also used on earlier 80 page annual specials). The digest format was 4  ¹³⁄₁₆" × 6  ⁵⁄₈", softcover, with 98 full color pages and no advertisements.