I agree that banner 2 has more of a light and dark feel to it going with the text but in both cases, the text AND the image is fairly difficult to make out (although that may be because of my crap eye).
I would suggest having the text to one side taking 2 lines and have the pic the other side. As an example, on some of these forum pages (I think it's random), is my animated banner for the Shadow World Players Guide where I've kept the logos on the left static so the images on the right are unobscured and (hopefully) clear.
Banner 1 would currently get my vote because the text is more legible than on banner 2.