I'll preface this by saying I didn't particularly like Dark Knights: Metal.

To me, it failed as a story by reading as a series of bullet points without any substance, rather than a cohesive narrative. It felt like it needed twice the number of issues to concentrate on its main themes and plot threads (the tie-ins only skirted around the edges of the event), but the core of the event was mostly a few pages per idea then moving quickly on. This is a recurring problem with company-wide crossovers, which are always better when the main series just tells a cohesive story that reads perfectly without the tie-ins and extras, etc. I am also not a big fan of Batman or Joker as cosmic level players, or Morrison's Batman (Bruce Wayne, his Dick Grayson was awesome!), so the whole thing fell flat to me.

With that out of the way, like most other people, I first saw this character in DK:M and thought "well, that's cool as hell. Clive Barker re-imagining Batman crossed with the Joker as a Cenobite, what's not to like?"

The answer is that he's sadly pretty one-note, all the skill and intelligence of Batman coupled with the chaos (see: murder) of The Joker. It's a cool idea on paper, but I argue it's not a particularly interesting one in practice. As a universe threatening character, he combines the worst aspects of Bat-God and the worst aspects of The Joker as a super-crazy serial killer and rather than amplifying the respective character traits, it dilutes them. He is a blunt instrument that lacks depth. And we've seen his backstory, so there isn't any mystery left to explore.

There is an inherent problem for characters (usually insane) who are trying to commit universal genocide, as they obviously can't ever win (or they can win once, but it gets reversed) and how do you escalate a character who almost destroyed the universe/multiverse/hyperverse in their first shot. There is a built in ceiling.

This is why Annihhilus works, as he is mostly used as an external threat, something outside our reality who, if given the chance would probably succeed in wiping everything out (yes, I know he HAS got into our universe a few times but this is rare and when he does, it's epic). Or the Anti-Monitor, who was designed to appear in one story and be as much as a plot point as a character (until Geoff Johns brought him back). Emperor Joker was another fine example of this, as the power intentionally temporary. Militant universal conquerors such as Darkseid, Thanos and Mongul have more longevity, as they need to take control over time (or obtain a specific mcguffin). This gives them room to grow and evolve as threats. They also tend to have vast armies at their disposal, often with some ancillary characters to support them.

He should have died/been removed with the rest of the alternate Batmen at the end of the crossover. I have my issues with Batman sicking The Joker on him in the first place, what with the whole no killing thing, but he then showed up again in justice League. And again in his own series. And in Year of the Villain. And will again in the new Superman/Batman series.

I just don't find him interesting enough to warrant his inclusion in so many books (or any, really), and wondered if anyone else is getting fed up with him. Or if there's something I'm missing that others are seeing, for example, is his own book mind-blowingly awesome?

I understand the "don't like him, don't read him" stance, but that's a bit hard when he is in Justice League (or was when I last read it, I'm a bit behind), will be in Year of the Villain special, essential to the next year of DC, and will be in Superman/Batman, a book combining my two favourite DC heroes.