The Throwing Axe of Shocking Burst (http://www.gamebanshee.com/icewinddaleii/equipment/images/throwingaxeofshockingburst.jpg) or Big Death (http://www.gamebanshee.com/icewinddaleii/equipment/images/bigdeath.jpg)?

Big Death is better in almost all cases:
It has higher basic damage
It has longer range IIRC.
It's 2-handed which gives more strength-bonus to damage.
The extra damage is about equal.
The only time you should use the other is when you need the +5 enchantment to overcome DR.

Throwing axe of shocking burst does approx 6,1-17 damage per hit (counting 1-10 extra damage every tenth time), with a STR score of 18.

Big Death does an impressive 9-23 damage per hit with 18 STR. thanks to two handed weapon STR bonus.

Damage wise Big Death is the winner, with bigger dice and +1 bonus, plus two handed STR damage bonus. (does it apply to thrown weapons? I never hurled a two handed throwing weapon though. Where can you get Big Death?)

But...

Unfourtunately an +1 enchanted weapon won't cut much later in the game. :( You can always switch another weapon when you need a higher enchantment though.

One handed weapons have their advantages as well, you can equip a shield with a nice ability and AC boost. Plus lightning damage is always nice to have, not much enemies have resistance to it. With %10 chance it can even do more bonus damage than Big Death, which compansates for its lower base damage. (but overall, Big Death still does more damage.)

Personaly I would go with the TAoSB. I would lose approx. 2,9-6 damage per hit and +1 AB (which is not worth much to a fighter type anyway) but I would gain +5 enchantment, shield's AC bonus&abilities and an elemental damage which bypasses stoneskin ie and damage reduction. A fair deal for, say, doing 4 less damage per hit, I think. :)

Ofcourse Big Death has a history and actually is cooler, so your call. :p

Try them both out! As I said before I'm unsure about theeir ranges but I think TAoSB has the usual throwing axe range which is quite short while the BD has the same range as throwing hammers which is much better.

The advantage of a shield isn't that good. Against arrows it's somewhat ok but against archers melee usually works best.
If you're close enough so that they can hit you in melee you would usually change to your weapons to the best avaliable melee-weapon. The exception might be if you really want to kill a wizard first but then the extra damage from BD makes you having to stand with range weapons a shorter time. While you get hit more often without a shield thin case would be a tie.

Therefor take the BD. Extra damage really makes the difference. Take the other only when you can benefit from the +5 enchantment.

Big Death. It does 6 more damage per hit, assuming 22 STR (18 + bull's strength); this adds up quickly. Most monsters don't have DR in normal, so the sure striking on the TAOSB doesn't matter. The increased to-hit of TAOSB is good, but after a while you stack to-hit up so much that you aren't likely to miss anyway.

Shields aren't important, especially for a ranged fighter. Nobody says darts are better than bows because they let you use a shield...

I like Cloudkiss except that it requires a ton of micromanagement to prevent your guy from standing in the back of the party and spraying friendly fire all over.