Cosplayer Of Color Profile: Eric Moran — The Smoke

To celebrate Black History Month, we take a moment to highlight seven cosplayers of color whose contributions to geek culture and the greater cosplay community go well beyond their costumes. Fourth up:

Eric Moran — The Smoke

Philadelphia native Eric Moran, known also as The Smoke, brings gravitas and performance aplomb to all the characters he cosplays. He’s been a fixture in the independent wrestling world for a decade. He’s also an actor, producer, writer, and a live and in-the-flesh comic book hero. This former United States Marine is one of the founders of Together Brothers Productions, an independent film company based on the East Coast.

In 2014, The Smoke became especially well known in the world of cosplay when he hosted the Syfy channel’s series Heroes of Cosplay. He has an impressive physique, cool demeanor, and confident style. He could easily look menacing in or out of costume, but regardless of who he cosplays (get a load of his M. Bison!), he’s firmly aligned with the forces of good. The Smoke routinely visits school to inspire and motivate kids as well as participates in charity events such as The Peace Fund Games.

The Smoke has been immortalized in DC Comics as the character Freight Train, and currently appears in George Perez’s Sirens. Besides performing live in innumerable wrestling matches, The Smoke has been featured on TV shows like The Jenny Jones Show, and appeared in films such as The Black Ninja and White Men Can’t Rap.

You can keep up with him via his Facebook page, as a leading character for “Big City Comics Studios,” in the webseries Trek Isolation, which stars Stan Lee and other luminaries of geekdom and cosplay such as Ivy Doomkitty, and other film and digital productions.

For more incredible cosplayers of color, find and follow the #29DaysofBlackCosplay hashtag on Twitter and Instagram. And find Gogo Incognito at http://Facebook.com/GogoIncognito and http://Instagram.com/geekchicsuperfreak.