A year ago, a kid with only a pair of scissors, a glue stick and a handful of change for a copy machine put out the first issue of Clambassador Comics. Now, a year later, the same kid with only a pair of scissors, a glue stick and a handful of change has put out the ninth, and soon-to-be 10th, installment of the same collection of comics.

For the past year, Clambassador Comics has been the baby of Gary Butterfield. Butterfield has worked diligently in his spare time to find cartoonists in the area to perpetually churn out work for his burgeoning comic empire. Since its inception, the comic has grown from five cartoonists to more than a dozen — all personally recruited by Butterfield and the other cartoonists.

-“Anyone can do it, everyone is funny sometimes, and you don’t need to know how to draw to do this,” said Butterfield when questioned about the strict admission guidelines he places on the people who will march under the Clambassador banner.

The artists are diverse, showing a range that stretches from simple to massively complex in style, and humor that ranges from the most high-brow to the incredibly crude. Comics such as Andrew Clayton’s “ERB” and “Old Man and the Tree” express humor that is quiet and simple in its jokes about snowballs and toads, while rendered in detailed pen-and-ink drawings.

On the other end of the spectrum are comics like Butterfield’s own “The Gentlemen,” which depicts two upright Englishmen in wavering line drawings discussing the proper method of performing acts of pedophilia and necrophilia.

“Some of the tasteless stuff is done just for shock or non-sequitur value,” Butterfield said in defense of the more lewd comics. “I’m not going to censor anything, in anyone or myself.”

Butterfield has been as good as his word so far, publishing comics that test the standards of decency.

“It’s true, most of the humor in Clambassador is raw; I mean, where else can you find jokes about God, Jesus and a certain terrorist attack?” asked Brian Chennell, whose own work revolves around making fun of Fermilab and vindictive Seeing Eye dogs.

Clambassador Comics has addressed everything in its photocopied pages from the productivity of jellyfish to what to do when caught in a bear trap. The comics even have gone so far as to touch on current political events, with Jack Haynes’ “Sock Drawer” commenting on the acceptability of our current president’s behavior. The minimal amount of biting political satire may be merely due to intimidation, though.

“Most of the staff, including me, are apolitical. I hang to the left, but I’m not educated enough to really do the sharp-cutting political humor of someone like Nick Arhos,” Butterfield said.

Only a few outlets are available in DeKalb for comic artists besides the Northern Star. Pearl, an on-again, off-again publication from “Brain Surgery with Walt and Lance” creator Jared Nance, publishes a scant number of comics each month, but no other local publication has shown the pure dedication to comics that Clambassador has. Clambassador is in the unique position to claim itself as the voice for DeKalb’s cartoonists.

The claim may have some merit because of the diverse collection of artists and topics Clambassador addresses, and the limited censorship they endure. In one issue alone, one can find humor based around the reanimated corpse of notorious party animal Anne Frank, carpentry, punk-rock legend Henry Rollins, Nintendo and heartbreak.

“Me being depressed is funny,” Butterfield said of the monthly comic about his quest for love.

“Is that funny?” seems to be a mantra for Clambassador’s artists. If something is even remotely funny, no matter how cute or revolting, it can become fodder for a comic.

“I just personally make mine funny because I choose to; I think everyone should draw comics in the style that suits them,” said Austin Cliffe, creator of the Daily Illini’s “Sackbut!” and contributor of Ku Klux Klan and kitten-eating jokes for Clambassador.

-The humor applies across the board, only rarely dipping into inside jokes about the tenacious editing of Butterfield.

“Though I love Clambassador, working for Gary can be trying at times, ever since we got that Pulitzer,” Cliffe said, trying to justify his own comic depicting Butterfield as the star of a homosexual pornography film.

Butterfield’s presence is strong in Clambassador, and although the strips often are about people he knows, he tries to keep them from becoming exclusionary.

“For example, lately I’ve liked to draw comics about Brian Chennell. Is it love? I don’t know. But I try to make them funny in general and not just, ‘Oh, remember that time.” Butterfield said in defense of his own somewhat-inside jokes.

Clambassador is celebrating its first year, but what lies ahead?

“In one word repeated three times: more, more, more,” Butterfield said about the future of Clambassador. “I’m tickled pink anyone ever reads anything I do, and I really want people to read things my funny friends have done.”

Clambassador is available at Record Revolution, 817 W. Lincoln Highway, and from Butterfield himself. Increased circulation is slated to take place in the next year because of the larger staff and available funds. Lack of funds had kept this ad-free publication in smaller runs, forcing several locations to be dropped from the Clambassador web of circulation. The next year should see a change to all of this, Butterfield assured.

As of now, the comic still is relatively easy to find, and goes out with a personal assurance of quality from the artists.

“Clambassador is a marvelous thing, and has had a widespread positive effect on the youth of our nation, err, city,” Cliffe said.

Chennell also praised the publication.

“All I can say to people who haven’t read the comic book is keep an eye out for it; every page is pure gold,” Chennell said.

If you haven’t found Clambassador Comics yet, and your desire for stories about fetal accountants and daredevil pickles hasn’t been satiated, keep your eyes peeled for a box of photocopied comics put out by an increasingly large contingent of local cartoonists.