I think people are being overly critical here. There are comics that are excellent pieces of storytelling that it's worth analyzing whether a character arc has been perfectly executed or not. PvP might have been such a comic once, but it hasn't been in so long that ranting about how not-perfect the character arcs is... I dunno, not exactly like kicking a puppy, because Scott clearly wants to be a good writer, but at this point, saying "Kurtz is a hack" is sorta like saying the sky is blue. We know.
In any case, I think there's room for Cole to be a somewhat petty and insecure person while still being a generally good guy.
I also thought Max's deliver of "heh, I can see you now" was pretty funny. I mean, that fact that he suddenly CAN see this mythical creature is a big enough deal that it makes sense for him to remark upon, but the fact that it's just kinda "oh, well okay then whatever I guess that's cool" makes it all the more funny.
In any case, I think there's room for Cole to be a somewhat petty and insecure person while still being a generally good guy.
I also thought Max's deliver of "heh, I can see you now" was pretty funny. I mean, that fact that he suddenly CAN see this mythical creature is a big enough deal that it makes sense for him to remark upon, but the fact that it's just kinda "oh, well okay then whatever I guess that's cool" makes it all the more funny.
, Max's relaxed attitude could be simply explained as taking comfort in knowing that his feelings of something missing from his life have been explicitly validated by his being able to see Skull. 
