Help requested by a graphic novelist:what tools?

Hi, I am a professional writer/illustrator and I am working on a graphic novel. I've been drawing with brush the old-fashioned way. I'd like to make the leap into using computer and sofware. What software and what minimum of computer equipment do I need? What books can give me current, up-to-date info on getting started? At the moment, I don't need books on how to draw or arrange panels or tell a good story. I need the nitty gritty techinical stuff.

My most important concern is being able to move my panels around--shift them to a more appropriate place in the story, removing panels or adding panels. I work b&w, so am not worried about color so much.

I'm currently making changes and corrections the old-fashioned way: physical cut-and-paste and it's laborious.

hmm i'm not really sure what the best way would be. find thing that comes to mind would be photoshop and illustrator. i know you can purchase photoshop elements from less than 100 dollars. good luck!

Adobe Photoshop elements sucks, no offence. It's like a light version of the original photoshop. If you really want to use computer software try CS3, if it's too expensive go for open source software like the GIMP. It's a good alternative for photoshop and it's free.

Painter is cheaper than Photoshop and might be a viable solution, especially for the coloring/shading portion of your duties. Photoshop will probably be a little easier on the layering, color correction, moving stuff around front.

That said, you don't need Photoshop either if all you are using it for is layout. There are, of course, professional solutions like Quark and InDesign, but you can probably find some cheap alternatives that will do what you need.