Ditto. I used to hate the fact that he was such a stuck-up boyscout who would blindly follow Chuck's dream no matter what. Then, like you, I realised that most of that was crap characterisation and he could be such a good character if he was given the room to grow a little.

Saying that, in the upcoming Messiah CompleX crossover they're saying that he's going to get the chance to be the leader he was always meant to be, so maybe we'll see him written a little better there.

And he managed the dry joking thing in X-Men #202, even if it was just to Emma.