name thing

Damn when did you get so good since I left :'(.

 

This is going to sound extremely negative, but I will preface it by saying I actually enjoy the piece overall.

- The name itself is flat against a 3D object (that is, the stormcloud) so interaction between the two, namely the lightning strikes, become almost cartoonish since it is literally combining the 2D text with the 3D space. I'd suggest adding a bit more shadow or whatever else it is you might do to bring a bit more uniformity in (and im totally making up a phrase here, which should never, ever be repeated again) dimensional feel across the piece.
- On that note, the lightning is a bit too flat as well. There are some nice contrasts between 2D and 3D in the stormcloud itself, such as the pieces of black to the lower right of the top light orb, but the lightning feels drawn on instead of being a piece of nature itself. Don't get me wrong, you can have a sharp lightning pattern (in terms of shape and line structure) but the crispness (or in gfx terms, sharpness) of the lightning graphic conflicts with curvy nature of the clouds. Like the aforementioned plastered 2D effect of the text, there seems to be little intentional interaction between the lightning and the cloud it is coming from. Improvement would lie in curving it a bit along the contours of the clouds and whatnot.

Back to the text:

I - looks great.
C - atrocious. you mention that it was a typographic thing and it evolved into something else, so I assume you knew this looked bad, but if you didn't, I'm being overly blunt. Looking at it, I don't know what you're saying/doing with the C being how it is, especially since there's no indication of the cloud affecting it, or any other external means causing the letter to look the way it is. Contrast that with the I, which cracks in a similar fashion as the lightning, making it a motif even if there's no real cause for it to be doing so.
E - The bottom and top right look great, I would recommend doing something to the sharp upper left corner though. Blur, texturing, dunno.
C - I like it.
I - Like this too. The top rain-effect, or whatever it is, contrasts very well with the lightning crack on the bottom end.
K - Hard to describe what my gripe is with this. the left side is fine, but the right just feels out of place. The bottom right of the letter blends into the cloud, but does so in a way that makes it look like you were indecisive about whether the letter or the cloud should be the top layer, instead of it being a "cloud is transparent" type of thing. I think the cloud should overlap it, instead of it being a middle ground. Was going to mention the lightning crack in the middle of the right part being a bit too bright, but you used the same effect on other parts of the lightning so it's irrelevant. The top part of the right is reaching the same awkward middle-ground as its lower counterpart, but in terms of sharpness. You should either make it very crisp like the outline of the C (it seems you made it as is because it isnt as bright there, so you shouldn't be able to see the outline as well) or blur it into another object, like the cloud.
L - Obscurity is a little odd here too. The middle part of the L looks like it's covered by an almost-unseen layer of the cloud. You should ramp up the letter or that layer a bit more so it's evident. Otherwise it's good.
E - I like this too. Though there's that weird shape/object at the start of the middle branch of the letter that draws the eye toward it. Tone it down a bit or erase it altogether.

I think that's it. My main gripe is still the lightning being a bit too formulaic and flat.

Edit: I literally just woke up from trying to fall asleep (as odd as that sounds) so if you need clarification on what probably read as something from a person who needs sleep, lemme know.

 

Color wise, I prefer the original. However, you definitely did improve what carried over into the new version. The lightning, and the letters all feel well (though if you switch back to the original color scheme, as I'd recommend, you might have to tweak the settings on the ghostish shadow on the letters that affords it the 3d look).

That being said, the second version feels really busy, there's too much going on with the addition of the red tech-like overlay and it contrasts too much with the overall tone of the piece (in both color and general feel, on the latter, you have the smoothness of the cloud contrasted with the sharpness of the letters, and the lightning falls in between, the tech lines ruin the balance and feel out of place as a result).

 

Much better, I think it should be a little lighter (more so around the darker areas of the letters than anything else because the darkness of the cloud looks great) if possible.