To be honest, neither is all that great. There could definitely be some major clean up to be done with that render. Those effects, I think you should just drop them. They're not good at all and don't really convey anything other than the banner being a bit of a mess.
Quote:Another image:
[Image: devil_may_cry_sig_by_bigbangpegasis9-d4aqwiv.png]
For what I think you were trying to pull off, this is pretty good, though the bottom right corner leaves a lot to be desired. It feels like it's not finished. I'd also toss that border if I were you, banners tend to look a lot better without them. (or at the most with a very thin one)
I think I'll post a few more of mine:
[Image: 2ewf6g7.png]
This is a texture heavy one.
[Image: 2wnnxfo.png]
No clue what I was trying to do here, there's like three different ideas clashing, but it's got an organized chaos I like.
[Image: n4igeh.png]
I don't like the text used here, but the overall color scheme is one of my favorites.
[Image: 2j11maq.png]
Annnnd this is the first in a set of quotes banners I made.