can a new comer pick up whedons run?

thinking of picking up whedons run, im new to the x-men and i have heard nothing but good things from his run. after that then i would probably start with house of m and all of that messiah stuff. 1 = do you recommend astonishing x-men? 2 = is secret wars the main story that old man logan and house of m revolve around (tie in to)?

You could start with Whedon. His run is kind of a sequel to Grant Morrison's run, but Morrison received a lot of mixed reviews from fans. There might be a few references that you dont get, but it shouldn't be too bad.

I don't know what you mean about Secret Wars. The original Old Man Logan by Mark Millar had nothing to do with it.

House of M was also it's own thing. There was a 2004 event called Secret War by Brian Bendis. It might of been connected to House of M, but I never read it, so I'm not sure.

@invain: so can i read house of m and old man logan separately? like are they self contained stories? (and thanks for the help)

@blerd123: There are a few tie ins to House of M in the X-Men books from the time period, but I don't think any of them are essential. You should be okay jumping into it.

Old Man Logan is a self contained story. It takes place in a alternate reality. You can jump into that one whenever you want.

@invain: you're amazing!!! thank you so much.

Whedon's X-Men was basicaly nostalgia porn. It was shock-full of references to old comics. If you never read those comics, you'll get nothing out of that run.

Whedon is very new reader friendly. Personally I am not a fan of his writing style but it seems to be popular.

I started out with Grants stuff thought it was ok at the time and then read Claremonts stuff and Whedon's. I think if you're a newer guy Whedon's is the way to go, his books feel more self contained than other X books

Yup. Good Jumping on point.

I lent my astonishing trades to a buddy and he loved them. Though he had no idea what was going on in the third story arc.

As you've probably already heard, Whedon's run is... astonishing.

I would pick up Morrison's run first though. But if you are short on time (and/or funds) i guess you can just catch the gist of it online for some context going into Whedon's exploration of Cyclops and Emma Frost.