In the seven chapters that I read, I found out how White (the guy dressed in black) and Black (the guy dressed in white) met, some of the things Black’s been up to since then, some of the things that’s happened to and around Black before and since then, but not very much about White. But that’s a mystery on top of a mystery because Black’s memory probably has more pieces missing or forgotten than what I’ve come to understand.
A good portion of this volume is devoted to White coming back into Black’s life and how Black’s scrambled memory plays into that reunion. Black has been through a lot and it shows. It shows and even though you mostly see the aftermath of these things, it’s enough. White was there for him through so much of it, but then he disappeared. The volume ends with more questions than when it began. I usually have one character or storyline that is the primary reason why I continue to read a story and everything else that goes on is gravy, but here, I feel like I need to know why White left and what he’s been up to and I feel like I need to fill in all the wholes of Black’s memory and know exactly what happened to his best friend and why wasn’t White his best friend when it seemed like he really should be. And was Black’s whole family’s role in all the stuff he went through. I’m sure White’s departure is directly related to what happened to Black’s best friend, but was it a matter of “the truth will destroy you” or “for my own sanity, I have to go”? The question of having two best friends is brought up, but never addressed. And then I wonder if there’s jealousy involved. So, all of it, I need to know all of it.
So, the of cover of the first and second volumes show Black and White in their colors. On the cover of volume 1, you can see a bit of White’s white sleeve, but he’s mostly in his signature black. However, on the cover of volume 3, you start to see more apparent patches of their color on the other and even more so on the cover of volume 4 where White has on a white shirt and the same goes for Black. Also, the colors used on the covers increase with each installment. I really like that.
I did not intend to read a whole volume’s worth of the webcomic, but since my reading did surpass the limits of my usual first impressions, this became a review of sorts. “Of sorts” because reading casually and reading to complete a full volume or a complete work require different mindsets and because of that, this is all I have to say about the story for now. Once I realize I like a webcomic I look to see if it’s available in a collected format before I continue. Usually I’m looking for ebooks, but depending on how much I really want it, if it’s not available as an ebook, I may go for print. I started reading at the Grey is… site and kept going. I think I initially stopped at chapter 4 or 5, but I don’t like officially stopping at weird points like that–it’s either the first chapter of the whole volume–so I read until I reached an official stopping point and safely avoided the unrest that was sure to come if I hadn’t. I asked and dee Juusan replied that she would be working on ebooks soon.
There are four volumes out now, so, I’m going to pause my reading until I can get them in my preferred format.
EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention. For a while I wondered if Black and White were the same person or even if White was just a figment of Black’s imagination. It could have been that way, the interactions were kind of going the way they were in Sixth Sense. But then Black’s manager spoke to White, so that kind of dashed that, though, in some small way, I still think it could work.