Is Death Metal a reboot or not?

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

Why didn't they just use the end of Doomsday Clock as the source for a reboot and the start of a new continuity? Why do we need additional (and seemingly endless) stories "explaining" how the multiple timelines are all messed up, culminating in a story that fixes them? It seems like they're more interested in writing stories that take place in the confusing mess than they are with fixing it and moving on. And so we get a series of stories in which history is rebuilt, over and over again - as if Crisis on Infinite Earths were happening once a year. Or continuously.

Probably because Didio didn't want a reboot or resetting of the DCU, or even just any future direction of DC, to be grounded in ideas not in synch with his own personal vision, let alone in synch with Johns' vision. Recall that about as soon as Johns left whatever position he had with the comics to focus on the films that it appeared as though Didio was moving to undermine "Rebirth" as soon as it had started.

[Noodle]

Do you also no that Black Mirror, Gates of Gotham, Batman New52, All-Star Batman and Metal are all complete storylines and are not part of one big run but of separate runs that happen to be by the same writter.

They are, though. Snyder has stated many times that his work from Nu52 Batman on are connected. Gates and Black Mirror not so much since Nu52 kind of wiped them out of continuity mostly, but everything after that is connected. There were hints about Metal sprinkled about in Batman because he started forming the ideas for Metal around the same time his Batman run started (he said this in an article with DC when Metal was announced). Can they each be read separately? Yes. But they are connected. Nu52 Batman, All Star Batman, Metal, Death Metal, Last Knight on Earth, Batman Who Laughs and Justice League are all connected.

[BohemiaDrinker]

Well, you can't actually reboot your continuity if you have no continuity. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[jb681131]

Why didn't they just use the end of Doomsday Clock as the source for a reboot and the start of a new continuity? Why do we need additional (and seemingly endless) stories "explaining" how the multiple timelines are all messed up, culminating in a story that fixes them? It seems like they're more interested in writing stories that take place in the confusing mess than they are with fixing it and moving on. And so we get a series of stories in which history is rebuilt, over and over again - as if Crisis on Infinite Earths were happening once a year. Or continuously.

Well Doomsday Clock was suposed to be it.
But Didio come along and forced it out to impose his new project: 5G.
People at DC didn't really like that so he got put aside and Snyder side project (who wasn't supose to be canon at first) got pushed up in replacement (Metal).
In this mess, Doomsday Clock got sadly ruined because it had lots of potential.

[manwhohaseverything]

Well, you can't actually reboot your continuity if you have no continuity. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's not true. They have wayyy too many continuities to have a single continuity.

[jb681131]

That's not true. They have wayyy too many continuities to have a single continuity.

That's also not true. DC has not "wayyy too many continuities, unless less than 10 is too much for you.

[witchboy]

While I suffer from reboot exhaustion, I'd welcome a reboot that pushed things back closer to pre New 52. And then stop rebooting and move forward.

[Astroman]

While I suffer from reboot exhaustion, I'd welcome a reboot that pushed things back closer to pre New 52. And then stop rebooting and move forward.

I'd dig that myself as well!