Per Degaton

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Context

Mr. Per Degaton is an evil time traveller, and a notable Justice Society of America enemy.

The first story about him was published in 1947. Though *technically* he was off-panel in a 1941 JSA time travel story.

While my brain has been insisting for decades that “per degaton” has to be a pun in Latin, this isn’t actually the case.

Scope

Here, we’ll only cover his two appearances that were actually published during the 1940s. This is a narrow scope, but :

Background

Soundtrack

I love Joe Satriani but I never get to play any on as part of those writeups.

So let’s seize the occasion to have, of course, “Time Machine”.

Satriani does instrumental hard rock that strikes a balance between his acclaimed mastery of the guitar and engaging compositions.

Powers & Abilities

Per Degaton isn’t tall, but he’s broad-shouldered and clearly works out. He’s not as tough as a two-fisted mystery man, but he likely can take on most veteran brawlers or boxers.

However, personal combat isn’t part of his normal modus operandi. Degaton sees himself more as a general.

Still, he normally carries a pistol, plus a knife with a distinctive D-shaped handguard.

Man in charge

Mr. Degaton and his paramilitaries are trained to operate American small arms and military vehicles. One suspects that Degaton served with a frontline US military unit during World War Two.

He could even command an armour company. And he seemed to be the one commanding the bulk of the paramilitaries of the original Injustice Society of the World (ISW), which would be impressive.

As mentioned in the Wizard (William Zard) character profile, it seems likely that the ISW fielded several divisions. Possibly several *corps*.

Per Degaton has extensive underworld contacts. But early on these mostly came from his aide, Kale. Kale recruited “a hundred tough mugs” to form Degaton’s troops.

As long as they’re paid, the men seem to have proper discipline.

The man with the plan

Mr. Degaton has an unclear amount of scientific and technological skill. During the 1940s stories, he doesn’t clearly demonstrate anything greater than a familiarity with chronophysics and time machine maintenance.

So at this point he’s more of a militaristic conqueror who used time travel that one time to gain superiority. He’s not an evil Rip Hunter. His skills in chronophysics appear too limited to make time travel a constant part of his modus operandi.

Mr. Degaton seems to be a good planner and leader. However, he’s not *quite* as competent at those as he thinks he is. Like most people, I guess.

He has a manic, sinister intensity that tends to impress.

How Per Degaton procures his military gear and other supplies is unclear. Especially since he couldn’t pay his troops right away.

History (part 1)

Per Degaton spent much of his life working as a menial-ish lab assistant, for a succession of noted American scientists.

Though he insisted that he too was a genius, his employers weren’t impressed.

It seems likely that he served on the front line during World War Two. His apparent abilities as a commander can’t come out of nowhere, so perhaps he obtained a commission and lost it in troubled circumstances ?

But there’s no mention of any military background in the material.

By 1947, he was assisting one Dr. Malachi Zee, who had a working time travel technology. But Zee too treated Degaton like a gopher.

(It was later revealed that Dr. Zee was part of the same time travel research project as polymathPossessing exceptionally wide-ranging skills and knowledge. Dr. Everson. Dr. Everson twice helped the JSA with his “time ray”. So making up a link between the two scientists is an obvious step.)

Chronal brittleness

Dr. Zee had developed a method to evaluate the impact of tampering with history. In *this* story, time reacts as follows :

Zee and his colleagues had already developed a defence. It seems that a specific metal, irradiated in a specific way, somehow blocked the effect.

It was *presumably* as part of this effort that a huge time capsule, made of this metal, was prepared. This way, the key resources within the capsule would remain available even after hostile historical tampering.

The capsule is buried in the “Colossal Caves”. Presumably meaning those karstic caves systems near Tucson, AZ.

They called me mad ! Mad !

After discussing Zee’s theories with the good professor, Degaton had a fit of temper. He claimed that he would use Zee’s theories to conquer the world.

When the professor protested, Degaton shot him.

The ex-assistant then went on to :

Arbela

The tipping point that was selected was the battle of Arbela, in 331 BC. To simplify, it was the final turning point in the war between the Macedonians (Alexander the Great) and the Persians (Darius).

In this story, Alexander is presented as a champion of democracy, which, well…

(Camera dollies toward the assembled representatives of the League of Corinth, laughing heartily and slapping their thighs in Ancient Greek.)

Having the Achaemenid Empire win against the Macedonians apparently slowed down technological progress by five centuries or so. Which is an odd take, to be polite.

The Change

This technological slow down manifested in a most extraordinary manner in the present – that is, the 1940s.

Recent technology morphedImpossibly shifting into another form. into ever-older predecessors of the same device, until it disappeared altogether. Books vanished in the same way.

Over days, the US was mostly back to a state of tech development approximating the late 1700s. The world eventually settled to a state said to approximate the Middle Ages.

There was little apparent unrest, as people just meekly tried to adapt. And when Per Degaton and his forces came in with Sherman tanks  , Jeeps  , 2½ tons trucks  , M1 submachineguns, Garands, 105mm howitzers  , several monoprop fighters, etc. there was little that could be done to oppose them.

Despite the Justice Society’s opposition, the US rapidly devolved into a bunch of… satrapies, I guess.

It was under the control of Per Degaton, but there was rampant abuse by local lords. So much that the JSA, the only resistance left, was mired in whack-a-mole mode for ten years.

Knowing is half the battle

However, in the earliest days of the Per Degaton takeover, the Justice Society had managed some key actions.

Howbeit, Green Lantern :

Per Deretcon

The Justice Society intervened at Gaugamela. They prevented Per Degaton and his men from gunning down the Macedonian military, and the battle was won in an historically correct manner. Well, more or less.

This retroactively erased all of the revised history.

Oddly, it even went back a little further. In the restored history, Per Degaton never worked himself up to a point where he shot Professor Zee.

All alone in the moonliiiiight

Mr. Degaton had some memories of the now-erased events. But he thought that it had just been a particularly weird dream.

The Justice Society forgot about the events. However, an Ancient Macedonian inscribed shield was then found.

Wonder Woman was puzzled to see that the text was a dedication to the Justice Society by Alexander the Great. She used Amazonian technology to investigate.

Which is how the Justice Society learned about this epic adventure of theirs, which had now never taken place.

History (part 2)

Mere months later, Per Degaton was one of the leaders of the Injustice Society of the World (ISW). As explained in the Wizard’s profile, they nearly conquered the entire USA.

There is a sense that Degaton was the one handling much of the logistical and paramilitary aspects of this huge operation. But it’s not stated.

It’s more a process of elimination, as none of his colleagues has quite the right profile. And we’ve previously seen Degaton leading company-level, combined-arms forces.

March of Injustice

Degaton is seen commanding an assault on Washington, D.C. (or “Capitol City” in the story).

It relies on a smoke machine blanketing multiple blocks in darkness (perhaps the same tech as the Night-Owl’s). Plus airborne grenadiers wearing special smoke-defeating goggles.

These men have uniforms and training evoking the paramilitaries in Degaton’s previous appearance. They are mostly light infantry, though – the exception being horsemen (!).

Doctor Mid-Nite (Charles McNider) intervenes and begins turning the tide. But Degaton takes him out from behind.

The ISW briefly assumed control of the country, but the JSA soon took them out. Like most ISW leaders, Degaton was knocked out by Wonder Woman.

Description

In his first few panels with Prof. Zee, Per Degaton seems to be a tall dude. But later on he looks almost as short as the Atom (Al Pratt). So it’s presumably Professor Zee who is tiny.

His black uniform evokes the Nazi SS uniform, especially in a 1947 context. The red contrasting with the black also is a Nazi visual signature. But beyond these colours, there’s little that resembles those uniforms.

His men’s uniform didn’t look flashy, or even that militaristic. Black boots, featureless black jodhpurs, tight featureless turtleneck black sweaters. Do you like their tight sweaters ?. They looked more like burglars than soldiers.

The “D” initial/symbol was prominently displayed on every single vehicle. But, curiously, not on the infantry’s uniforms.

Per Degaton occasionally smokes cigarettes.

His thick black eyebrows and somewhat sunken eyes give him a sinister look, with lots of shadows about his peepers.

Personality

Per Degaton’s primary character trait is a burning desire to prove that he’s a genius of historical proportion.

Something of a conquering Alexander the Great figure, which may explain his choice about which historical event to sabotage.

This is also the source of his defeats :

His strategies will often rely on taking out the enemy officials. Which was a bit old-school by the 1940s, but is effective in the story.

Per Degaton has little sense of honour. He has zero problem reneging on his word, attacking from behind and being a low down, dirty deceiver.

Quotes

“You see how your petty mind works, Kale ? If you were running this show, you’d use the methods of a mere thug. I am Degaton — and I prefer to do things my way !”

“It’s of the utmost importance to my plans that the city be left leaderless ! That way we’ll break down law and order — city by city –“.

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