Ya know, if Johns wrote Hal like Nova's being written here, I don't think he'd get so many complaints.
I gotta disagree about New Warriors though, at least in the first series. Under Fabe's pen, Rich was capable, competent and sorta level headed. Erik Larson was the one who really made Nova an idiot.
And yeah, IMO, competent people are awesome to read about. And being smart shouldn't be a writing hurdle, it should be encouragement to write better.