Tablet question

Hey guys,

Here's what I want to do: I've made several cartoons in Flash by animating heavily photoshopped photos with much success. Now, I've develeoped an idea for a cartoon that would best be served by my original drawings, but I find a mouse to be too cumbersome for that. I want to be able to just draw as I would on a piece of paper, yet have that drawing show up on my computer, and I figured a graphics tablet would be the easiest and fastest way to do that. However, that is where my knowledge on the subject ends. I need to know what the best piece of hardware for that would be, with the following considerations: A) I'm poor and B) I'm an amateur. Any advice in this area would be much appreciated!