Superman's return to our big screens this summer will have fanboys, like me, wetting their little red underpants in excitement and might, potentially, give some approval for my often unpopular taste.
People jeer at my Jacko obsession (not those cool kids outside the gates Neverland, oh no); they scoff at my Dawson's Creek DVD collection; throw their drinks at my shiny white shoes and yell, "Oi, you! Gay boy!" Who's gay now? (Well, Superman, according to gay magazine The Advocate.)
But for once, it seems, something I like (in tights, nonetheless) has the approval of critics and the drink lobbing public alike, as the first reviews for Superman Returns give the new movie a resounding thumbs up.
Variety magazine's critic said it was "grandly conceived, sensitively drawn [and] never self-consciously hip".
"It is sincere, with an artistic elegance and a genuine emotional investment in the material," he wrote.
The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, saluted "a heartfelt Superman movie that plays to a broad audience".
Routh, it continued, plays the comic book character "with honesty [and] winning fortitude".
And Newsweek's David Ansen wrote: "From the start of this gorgeously crafted epic, you can feel that Singer has real love and respect for the most foursquare comics superhero of them all.
"Newcomer Routh may or may not be a real actor, but he effortlessly lays claim to the iconic role."
His comments were echoed by Harry Knowles on the Ain't It Cool News website, who described Superman Returns as "the film I was hoping and dreaming for".
"Just as Batman Begins relaunched an ailing Batman, it sends Superman into the stratosphere," he wrote.
