Here's my free opinion. It's worth every penny. I think both covers have pros and cons and how you ultimately feel about them may interact with the larger piece of work.
There are parts of the old cover I like. We've got a clearly magical creature, but's dressed in street clothes and turned away from us with hand placement and gestures that indicate question or confusion. It provokes the question as to what is the story here. That also dovetails nicely with the title which suggest that maybe the question this being is pondering is defining deacon. So in the respect of storytelling it's successful in that the cover makes me curious about the larger story.
I do agree with the other comments that you technique has improved from version 1 to 2. I also agree that the type with the font choice, drop shadows, dimension and glare hits is busy and distracting.
The new version is more technically accomplished and visually stronger. It also has the virtue of actually introducing us to the character. (if that's what we want.) However, the pose while strong, is also clique. We've seen the “my kung fu is stronger than yours” pose before so I'm less curious about it.
