Sorry, I don't really understand what you mean by that last sentence: "Have the banner featuring several on click JPEG within the element."
As for the additional click and why we've chosen to change the featuring method is quite simple: we want to recommend more than one series to a reader. And from the data that we've collected, more people are subscribing and the general flow of traffic is going towards more creators. It gives the reader options.
There are a couple of things to consider when approaching the front page banner section. For starters, we have to approach two different kinds of users: first time users of Tapastic, and a returning user. I feel like we're addressing both the needs of those readers by pointing them towards a collection. Aside from that, we have to gauge what kinds of behavior the user should get used to. If you look at the front page, every series has a thumbnail image, and the collection page is no different - we are getting the user comfortable with assocating a series with a thumbnail. It also places a strong emphasis on better designs for individual thumbnails.
As for reducing the number of clicks, we've seen that it doesn't have a high impact. Users that want to read will read, and users that bounce will bounce. I understand that logically, having additional clicks would lead to a higher bounce rate, but so far that hasn't been the case.