DC Comics and Comixology are currently putting on an incredible 3-day digital comics sale on DC’s Infinite Crisis Event, which includes the Infinite Crisis mini series as well as the aftermath comics: 52, World War III #1-4, and The Four Horseman #1-6.

By this point, most comic book readers that enjoy the DC Universe have read both Infinite Crisis and 52. But in case there are some reading this that haven’t read these comics — whether they’re new to comics or simply not a DC fan — please let me give you a rundown of these two series. If you don’t want to read about the comics, just go here and buy them; for everybody else, here we go…

You see, the whole point of Infinite Crisis was to re-establish DC’s multiverse which was given its last hurrah in 1985/1986’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. If you’re unfamiliar with what a multiverse is, it’s basically a galactic understanding that there are separate Earths and universes depending on all eventualities. For example: you may be a comic book-reading rock star on this Earth, but on a different Earth, you’re a financial advisor that doesn’t like comics because they’re all about football teams. Make sense? Good. So, DC Comics destroyed the multiverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths by introducing the Anti-Monitor and merging over some characters from different Earths to keep around some of the more popular characters, but overall, the series killed a lot of characters.

DC kept up the initiative to keep the DC Universe streamlined for years until ultimately they decided it was time to rebuild the universe. This was done within the pages of Infinite Crisis. Geoff Johns as writer of the event comic built the “infinite Earths” multiverse up again through the re-introduction of Alexander Luthor, an overall good-hearted version of Lex Luthor, Superboy Prime, and Superman and Lois Lane of Earth 2. This foursome of decent individuals came to our Earth because they wanted to bring their home Earths back to life, in a manner of speaking. Well, of course things are never that simple, and after an overly-simplified, yet convoluted series of events, the multiverse was recreated, Batman quit being the hero of Gotham as he went into isolation for meditation, Wonder Woman also left, and Superman focused on being Clark Kent. So, with the Trinity of DC’s main heroes out of action, new people had to rise to the occasion. And we saw that in 52.

52 is probably the biggest idea that DC Comics has ever had, and in my opinion is one of the most underrated pseudo-events from any comic book publisher. At a time when the comic book industry started turning around thanks to movie involvement and struggling sales, DC Comics took a risk by removing their biggest heroes from action, replacing them with more obscure characters, and also introducing diverse legacy characters that pretty much no one saw coming. Also, probably the biggest thing about 52 was the release schedule and the creative team. Four insanely talented people from DC’s creative stable of writers took to this maxi-series to change the landscape of DC Comics. At the time, they were the architects of the DC Universe. Those four men were Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Geoff Johns. The comic was released on a weekly schedule for 52 weeks and lived up to its goal. The multiverse was shrunk from Infinite Earths down to a much more streamlined 52 Earths that showed us several different universes including the Earth of the JSA and Jim Lee’s Wildstorm characters. There’s so much more to 52 and I’d love to talk about it, but it would seriously take forever. So, trust me on this one, if you haven’t read the series, you need to. Most newer comics readers I know grew to love the DC Universe thanks in no small part to this series.

Following the events of Infinite Crisis and 52, DC Comics was tasked to re-introduce the Trinity to the DC Universe and do a bit of clean up after the insanity of these comics, and that was handled in both World War III and The Four Horsemen. Now, I’m not going to spend too much time on these because you know what? I haven’t read them! So, this sale is perfect for both new readers and people like me that just never got around to the follow up comics. And seriously, if you’ve read Infinite Crisis and 52 but haven’t read World War III and The Four Horsemen, the hard part is over. All we have to do is get ten comics for a mere ten dollars. How can you argue with that?

So, make sure to head over to Comixology starting today, and make sure to get your digital copies before 11 PM Eastern time on Monday, January 23 because the sale will be over after that. So, don’t sleep on this! Before the DC relaunch, it was probably the second most important (Re: continuity) time in DC’s history. Also, 52 in particular is just simply a good comic that opens your eyes to a lot of different characters like Animal Man, Adam Strange, Black Adam, Kate Kane, Renee Montoya, Booster Gold and many more. Honestly, this is a sale you can’t miss.