Honestly looking back on it, I disagree with you, it was a multiyear story that started in Justice League, then introduced a whole slew of new and fantastic characters, then somehow wrapped up the Green Lantern shenanigans that were going on at the time. Maybe I was the story’s target audience at the time, but it blew me away then and it still amazes me they were able to do this when they did.

Most blatant cash grab in history imho was the DC / Marvel crossover that ended up with all the comics from the two companies being “canceled” for a month and books from the “Amalgamation” universe taking their place with characters like “Bruce Wayne: Agent of SHIELD”.