My favorite part of JLA 123/124 is the scenes with Julius Schwartz complaining to Cary Bates and Elliot Maggin that they haven't got any original ideas, and to come up with something story-worthy.

Then Bates becomes this super-villain on Earth 2 (under mind control from the Wizard) and defeats the JSA, etc., etc.

And then when Bates came back from this wonderfully imaginative adventure, he didn't have the wits to remember it to write it down, and re-tell the story that he lived !!
For which editor Schwartz (in the story) chastises Bates as an unimaginative nit-wit or somesuch.

It's very funny self-deprecating humor on the part of writers Bates and Maggin.

I always thought Julius Schwartz was a hard-nosed grouch after reading this story, and was very pleasantly surprised when I met him at the 1987 San Diego Comic Con, to see what a pleasant and soft-spoken guy he is.
Or was, until he recently passed away a month or two ago.