News roundup from the world of webcomics, kiddies! Keep those press releases, announcements, and suchlike coming through the contact page.

Item! Fleen fave Alien Loves Predator celebrates 200 strips by switching to a twice a week schedule. Bernie Hou, chronicler of the soul of New York City, tells all:

Here we are, episode #200, and what better way to mark the occasion by announcing something crazy that I’m unprepared to do. Starting this week I’ll be posting two new comics per week instead of one. This week, the next update will be on Friday, and then Tuesdays and Fridays thereafter. I figure most of the new comics will be the old-school, shorter 3-panellers that you enjoyed through the first year for about 130 episodes, but for those of you who dig the full-page pieces of the last year, I’ll probably do some o’ those once in a while. All depends on what mood I’m in.

We at Fleen sincerely hope that Hou is frequently in a good mood, ’cause those full-page pieces rock. Especially when he channels Chuck Jones.

Item! Alex [redacted: see posting from 17 March 2010] informs us:

I’m not sure if you do this kind of thing, it is definitely a “shameless press release.” I just started a webcomic, Monkeys In Orbit. It’s about two monkeys that get stranded in space during the space race of the 50’s and 60’s. It’s in the prologue stage right now, but it would be really cool if you checked it out. I hope you like it!

Alex, it’s most definitely the sort of thing we do, at least since we rededicated ourselves to it last week. We’re a bit late running your release, but that just means that people will have more strips to enjoy when they click over. The story starts in the depths of WWII, and the art reminds me of Wang Xuanming (which, as far as I’m concerned, is a very good thing). Alex has had a few delays, but will be kicking the strip back into production this week, which can only mean more monkeys. If you can’t get enough of space, monkeys, space monkeys, or backwards “R”s and “N”s, check out Monkeys In Orbit!

Item! Speaking of those space monkeys, Alex Jeffries fills us in more about its collective:

The Chameleon Collective is now fortified with even more essential webcomics, welcoming newcomer Steamed Carrot and Running in the Halls to an already hilarious line-up of Awesome Burger (a new project from the creator of the Sordid Affairs), It’s Not Abuse It’s Love and from the creator of Hell Ain’t So Bad, Monkeys in Orbit.

This former-triumvirate now pentarchy plans to flex its newfound power and return to its roots! That’s right. We aim, once again, to connect more fully with the fans and provide a greater experience. Expect an overload of contests and collaborations.

The doors are definitely open to other eager artists who wish to join up! We look forward to the future (it’s rather hard to look back on the future…) and what it will bring our members. I imagine it’ll be pretty fun.

Item! Darren J. Gendron likes pirates!

To properly celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Dear Pirate is running a special double issue today, featuring the secret Pirate Alphabet.

Item! David Willis is takin’ care of his Blank Label-mate, Paul Taylor in style. Bid on a piece of webcomics history and help out a little guy that needs it all at the same time.

Item! Speaking of Blank Label, {K|Ch}risto{ph|f}er Straub reports that next week you should be able to grab a Starslip Crisis mini-book.

And Item! Fleen congratulates Christopher Wright on beating the unemployment bugaboo. Today he goes back to work, stickin’ it to The Man. As we all know, The Man is very stickable.