Nice work Joey.
I voted for the first one, but if you dark down the second on a bit and add a white glow around the hero so he stands out I think it would be as good as the bright one maybe even better

edit:
oh and maybe choose an different pose for the hero.
Maybe sword straight up and the shield like he is going to protect himself would make the cover a bit more aggressiv.
At the moment it looks like the hero is stoned or something.