This is tough, because if it were just @spudfuzz it'd be a simple question: is the colour worth it to you? But in a team situation where the writer says, "I won't stop you, but I really think it's important," the question becomes: what are you willing to do? Is this something you can do for 500 pages? A page a week is about 50 pages a year. Can you paint it for 10 literal years of your life? Will that be a cool chance to get better at something you struggle with (possibly finding a different outlet for experimenting with black and white work), or is that thought horrifying?
I mean, this is true, but you could say the same for comics in general. Imagine going from directing movies to drawing comics, and bemoaning how impossible it is to get the mood you want without a soundtrack that gives you that instant first impression, that strong sense of atmosphere! Of course, this doesn't mean you CAN'T get atmosphere in a comic.... it just means you don't get atmosphere in a comic that way -- you get it through colour choice, or through black placement, where the shadows fall and how you frame the page. You use the things comics are GOOD at.
Even though it doesn't seem like colour vs. black&white is a shift of medium, I think there has to be a similar shift in thinking. I could make a great case for how important the music is in a movie, but that isn't a comic's strength, and that's not what a comic uses. Everything you've said about colour is true, but that's not what a black & white comic uses.
I'll continue to assert til my dying breath that Jeff Smith's Bone looked better in black and white than it ever did when colour was added, because the b&w work was so strong that the colour was unnecessary. Knowing what colour the forest was didn't matter, because everything I needed to know about every scene of that comic came across in other ways.
THAT SAID:
- if you move from colour to black and white, even if it's the most beautiful black and white possible, there may be readers who will be disappointed, just because it would be a big style change from what they expected. But honestly? Seven pages in is a GREAT time to stop and make that decision. I can imagine drawing a comic I didn't enjoy for 100 pages. I cannot imagine doing so for 500 pages.
- if your primary concern is reader retention, I assure you, as long as the art's still nice, updating more frequently is WAY more effective for acquiring readers than pretty colours!
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if there are colours that are PARTICULARLY important to your story, you could also consider experimenting with spot colours -- example: this magical girl one-shot by Nichole Chartrand -- especially if you're dealing in magical-related things where colours are important, or anything where a particular colour is important to the feel of a character.
