Be able to do more good stuff in less time, or follow the trend?
You have a good point and it's true that one might have to make compromises.
However, I don't think you can't necessarily have it both ways (doing good stuff in less time) and (following the trend).
I could probably do the same volume of pages in bw or color, but I'd have to just change my style a bit. The drawing and shading might have to be simplified to be able to do color in the same amount of time.
I think black and white was a necessity in print to keep costs down, but with digital work it's less necessary because their is no reproduction cost difference to the creator and the viewer is going to feel like they are getting less value for their time / attention.
I think in digital media, color is a given. For example: with few exceptions, television hasn't turned back from going to color and video games are always in color.