EW.com’s Ken Tucker poses a question to readers over at the “PopWatch” blog: Is FLASH: REBIRTH one of the two best-written super-hero titles out now?

We tend to agree, but that’s a given. Check out Tucker’s full blog post here.

The next issue of FLASH: REBIRTH hits 5/6.

By now, you’ve seen preview pages for this issue at NEWSARAMA and IGN, both showing off the stylish artistry of Philip Tan (working with Geoff Johns, natch). But in our continued efforts to be reader-friendly, we’ve re-posted both previews here, along with an extra page and some prelim pencils from Tan. NEWSARAMA also posted some pencils from the issue on Friday. GREEN LANTERN #39 — the gift that keeps on giving. The issue hits stores tomorrow.

Yesterday, we gave you a look at an early version of the cover to the first issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE, which, as we guessed, left you interested in more. Let it never be said we don’t deliver here at The Source. As promised, here are three pages from the first issue, from writer James Robinson and artist Mauro Cascioli. We also tossed in the final cover for good measure.

In GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #19, Dinah faces off against Cupid, the murderous vigilante who’s been lusting after Ollie Queen (aka Green Arrow, for the uninitiated). Easier said than done. Check out some of these pages from the Andrew Kreisberg/Mike Norton combo for a bit of what’s happening in the world of everyone’s favorite superhero couple.

Yesterday, we teased you with Ivan Reis’ amazing pencils for the cover to BLACKEST NIGHT #1. And now, we can take a gander at the inks for the first issue of the Johns/Reis blockbuster-to-be. Enjoy!

Fame can quickly get to your head, and when you’re an ex-con coasting on a sudden rush of popularity, it’s hard to deal with the harsh realities of life. So learns the Tattooed Man. Flush from his flirtation with being a good guy after FINAL CRISIS, the former villain returns home to be welcomed as a hero. But being a hero and thinking you’re one are very different things.

Check out these two penciled pages from artist Fabrizio Fiorentino, who’s teaming with writer Eric Wallace on the six-issue mini-series. FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH: INK #1 hits on 5/27.

Slated to hit in July, writer James Robinson and artist Mauro Cascioli’s JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE mini-series has been hotly anticipated, to say the least. And now, as we inch closer to the release of the first issue, here’s a look at a prelim cover for the first issue of the series. Like what you see? Come back tomorrow for some more Cascioli goodness. Yes, you have to wait.

Please to enjoy: cover pencils to BLACKEST NIGHT #1.

According to various reports this morning — most notably NEWSDAY — veteran comic book artist Frank Springer died last Thursday. He was 79. Cause of death is being cited as prostate cancer.

Springer, born December 6, 1929, was known for his work on Batman, Secret Six, Marvel’s Dazzler, Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD and various comic strips during his lengthy career.

NEWSDAY‘s obit provided a lengthy overview of Springer’s career, including quotes from his family and fellow artist Stan Goldberg (Archie):

Frank Springer, a longtime Long Islander who was a prolific comics artist for such strips as “Terry and the Pirates” and “Rex Morgan, M.D.,” died Thursday at his home in Damariscotta, Maine, of prostate cancer. He was 79.

Springer was a gregarious and practical man who labored for hours a day in his backyard studio, said his son, Jon Springer of Brooklyn. “He’d be out there basically all day long, morning until dinnertime.”

The artist would listen to jazz and opera while he worked, and he never got too high-minded about his outstanding talent, his son said. “He was a normal, conservative kind of guy,” Jon Springer said.

Frank Springer drew for a wide variety of companies, including DC Comics and Marvel. He also illustrated an adult-themed satire, “The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist,” a comic that Springer considered one of his best works.

“Very few people could surpass him as an artist, as a gentleman, and as a true gentleman in my field,” said Stan Goldberg, who draws the “Archie” comics. “When you see a Frank Springer job, you know it’s going to be the best job in the world.”

DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz shares his memories of Springer:

“”Frank Springer’s passing was reported this weekend. Frank was 79, and while never one of the mainstays of the DCU, he was the artist of one of the most unusual short lived experiments of the late ’60s, THE SECRET SIX, and a regular pinch hitter in our line up,” Levitz said. ” Dapper, and always with a charmer’s smile under his shock of prematurely white hair, Frank was predominantly a newspaper strip guy (a better paid and recognized group than the comic book guys in his prime years), but happily obliged when we got in a jam. With an illustrator’s eye, he crafted people whose personalities permeated their appearance, as his did.”

For more, you can check out Mark Evanier’s story on Springer’s passing and The Beat and Newsarama obits.

In an effort to prevent you from spiraling into any kind of Monday morning sadness, here’s a quick roundup of notable news that hit over the weekend:

• Geoff Johns continued to talk up FLASH: REBIRTH, this time with io9′s Graeme McMillan:

Why bring back Barry Allen?

Because the world needs heroes.

Bringing back Barry Allen, that was something that grew out of everything we were doing with Final Crisis with Grant [Morrison] and everything. You know, Grant and I had talked a lot about this, too, when we were working together on DC Universe Zero way back when, about what was going on with the Flash Universe, and more specifically the DC Universe.

With Final Crisis, it was a full circle from Crisis on Infinite Earths, and with Darkseid representing the ultimate evil, and Grant really playing the theme that Darkseid really is evil incarnate without room for any grays, Barry Allen was by all accounts considered the greatest force for good in the DC Universe, and so he was brought back to combat that as a signal of ushering in the new age of heroes back in the day with Showcase #4. Barry represents that.

• FLASH: REBIRTH artist Ethan Van Sciver stopped by BLOG@NEWSARAMA as well, talking to Russ Burlingame about the mini-series.

• IGN also spoke to GREEN LANTERN and BLACKEST NIGHT editor Eddie Berganza about the upcoming mega-event:

IGN Comics: Obviously you have an interesting situation with Blackest Night running alongside Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps – can you give us an idea of the focus of each title? Will they weave together or are their stories pretty distinct? Is Blackest Night a “big DCU picture” idea with GL and GLC focusing strictly on Hal Jordan and his friends?

Berganza: Ideally, we’re giving you complete stories in each title, but if you read them as a whole you are getting a larger view of this threat that is spreading death throughout the universe.

Both GL and GLC will be looking at it from the perspective of the Green Lanterns and the Guardians, and how all the new Corps are affected by it. BN itself will be about how the Black Lanterns are terrorizing the rest of the heroes of the DCU, and you see Hal interacting with them.