Not suitable for 2008 when the question was asked, but these days this works well for me:
async function newImageSrc(src) {
// Get a reference to the image in whatever way suits.
let image = document.getElementById('image-id');
// Update the source.
img.src = src;
// Wait for it to load.
await new Promise((resolve) => { image.onload = resolve; });
// Done!
console.log('image loaded! do something...');
}