Hi ecerberus,
I love that you are trying many things! I love and respect that fighting spirit, and congrats if you're new to photoshop and doing all this! Good work!
I do know photoshop well. I'll try and point out a few tricks, but it gets rather wordy, so go ahead and PM me if you don't get what I mean.
To my eye, all three are too busy. If you shrink it down, I don't think it would read. There's so much going on the eye dances all over, you want the title and your name to pop, everything else is secondary to that.
On the title. If you don't want to use a bolder font, or if bold isn't a variant available, dupe the layer with the text. (on mac, command+J with layer highlighted. Might be control+J on PC, but I'm not sure.) Make a selection on the type, then expand the selections a few points. Then fill over the type or in a new layer. This may mess up your kerning, so it may take a few times to get it right. You may want to do each word in separate layer. (or each letter) I think a bolder font and closer line spacing will improve the visibility. I do like the tighter drop, but maybe use in combination with a black outline too.
On the border. Make them uniform top and bottom, same size, and re-size the shape so it's not cut off on either end. May need to respace a bit. If it's going to be printed, you need some bleed, which is extra extension of color all around to compensate for printing and trimming. (Only along the outside of the whole thing, not the individual pieces.) You can make a guess and just open the canvas a little and then have a white border on a top layer to cover the trim area.
On the figure. The main thing is the weapon, shield, and figure. All the details and outlines are competing with the title. i would at the minimum, lower the contrast of the outlines. (Consider that the S is the same thickness as the outlines, it should be more dominant.) I still don't know what the thing hanging off his waist is. It looks like an umbrella to me (LOL!), and doesn't seem like something a fighter would have hanging off in a battle. I hope that helps. In the same way as the title above, try making a selection and just make the figure and the shield one black solid shadow. Just something to play with.
I'm not sure it can be done, but having the title alone on the parchment, and the figure beneath it may help.
Play with the sizing too. A bigger black behind the title will help, and in previous versions, you had the figure cut to show only the top parts, so maybe play with making the figure bigger, and then shorten the weapon so it can still show the point.
The cut off arm looks awkward to me. If you've got a full image of two warriors competing, maybe you could shrink considerably and show them below the tighter title.
Another general to consider. If the parchment is of the image, cutting off the figure where the rips are around the edges should be clear to observers, as in, they would get that.
The borders take away from that simple notion of just a black surrounding the central image.
For any colors, google: egyptian parchment prints, and check the images. I would sample from those pallets in a similar fashion.
The tag, for example, is crowded in there over lapping the helmet. I know this is something you may intend to fix on your own.
Sorry for so many words. I did warn you, LOL! Mainly, less is more. Simpler is better. People are going to be seeing a very small version of whatever your final result is, and as stated, I love everything and anything Atlantis, so I think that's your strongest point! i really hope this helps, and feel free to PM. I can obviously go on and on, LOL! I tried to make suggestions for whatever direction you decide to go, so some may not agree, just giving you things to play with.
Again, congrats with your progress!