Why do supervillains always have more interesting powers than superheroes? Why do serial killers have fan clubs? Do we need another hero? Do we need to find the way home? The wisdom of noted philosopher Tina Turner notwithstanding, cultural soothsayer Chuck Klosterman searches for answers to all that and more in his new book, I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling With Villains (Real and Imagined). It's his latest meditation on the role of the hero in modern popular culture — and how he grew to appreciate anti-heroes as he evolved to appreciate the complicated nature of people who are slightly more multidimensional than comic book characters. “I am convinced we do not only love ourselves in others but hate ourselves in others, too,” quoth German thinker G.C. Lichtenberg, and so it is for New York Times Magazine columnist and essayist Klosterman as he delves deep into heroic matters of ethics and empathy. Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz; Wed., July 17, 7:30 p.m.; free. (323) 660-1175, skylightbooks.com.

Wed., July 17, 7:30 p.m., 2013

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