I believe this is DC aping Marvel's Ultimate books.
IOW, milking existing characters/books by spinning off an entirely new continuity for them divorced from the mainstream.
An astute observation.
I find myself intrigued by the concept of All-Star DC (though I am hardly Grant Morrison's biggest fan, at least he has shown to understand who Superman is, unlike other writers). Though at the same time, I find myself terrified by the concept of Ultimates.
Part of the reason All-Star DC is so much more a breath of fresh air is because as a result of constant revisionism to iconic characters particularly in the past few decades, "DC Continuity" has become an oxymoron. As a result of miniseries like HAWKWORLD and MAN OF STEEL, it is unclear what has happened where. Who the heck is Hawkman these days? Was Superman ever in the Justice League? Was it Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman's Mother, or Liberty Belle that was in the JSA? Who really knows? The point of continuity is to have a concrete history, and the moment the revisionist bug started biting, issues had to be thrown out, which defeats the entire purpose of a continuity: that stories wouldn't be thrown away.
"But Julian," you say, "what's the big deal, baby? I mean, it's all fictional characters, right? What's wrong with the DC Universe occasionally being outright contradictory? Paul Bunyan has various mutually contradictory stories."
The problem with this is, we are not supposed to accept Paul Bunyan as "real." But we are to do the same with the DC characters because we want to have an emotional investment in them. Everybody talks about Paul Bunyan, but nobody really cares about him. Fictional worlds are more impressive and memorable the more real they seem. Look at the legions of fans around novels like DUNE and LORD OF THE RINGS.
This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact the revisions were clueless and detached from who the characters are. Obviously the most offensive was John Byrne's MAN OF STEEL in terms of his failure to grasp what the character of Superman is all about. These also include Howard Chaykin's TWILIGHT, which changed the previously clean-limbed, milk-drinking DC Space Heroes into sleazy sex fiends. This happened in the excesses of HAWKWORLD, where now not only do the brilliant silver age Hawkman stories no longer serve as possible resources for future stories, it isn't even clear exactly what the deal is with Hawkman anymore.
So, in this atmosphere of revisionists having killed the goose that laid the golden egg, can it be that I'm actually LOOKING FORWARD to a Grant Morrison comic?
Hey, stranger things have happened.