It is something straight out of a textbook, literally. But how did it get all the way from Blacksburg to Libya?
"Awesome. I mean it is hilarious,” says Virginia Tech professor John Boyer.
It's an image seen in dozens of protests and news articles about the revolution in Libya, and some say it is now the official Moammar Gadhafi image of the Libyan protestors.
"It was a weird epiphany when you realize how small the world actually is, that someone can randomly find your illustration from halfway around the world and use them,” says artist Kla-us Shmidheiser.
Virginia Tech professor John Boyer and former student Kla-us Shmidheiser never thought this would happen, and were surprised when students started reposting the image and news articles to their face books.
"To think that some goofball professor and some awesome artist here in Blacksburg, have now had some completely small role in the Libyan revolution that is happening right now,” says Boyer.
The Gadhafi image was originally created for a textbook called, "The Plaid Avenger." A comic book series that talks about factual history and geographical information, but with an interesting story line twist.
"As an artist, my goal is to get my work out there. And it is exciting to see it used in different mediums,” says Shmidheiser.
Even though the photo is being defamed, Kla-us and John are glad it is being used that way. They say their favorite one is of a little girl kicking Gadhafi.
"We are like 'yeah,' because that is the whole point of the project, is to educate people here and educate people there,” says Boyer.
"It was actually awesome. It is not like they are burning my art, they are burning Gadhafi's image, which I would support,” says Shmidheiser.
Both wonder if one day this image will be in every history textbook, and not just theirs. But for now, their image is creating history as we speak.
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