Well, I think the reason people promote tablets are largely from those who have been working with photoshop etc for 10 years or so... When you love digital art, inking or coloring a tablet is a godsend. But it will not teach you how to miraculously use the programs to their full potential. Don't even bother making the investment until you get comfortable working with digital.
Your first comic is cute. a few pointers:
When planning out word bubbles, make an estimation of how much space the text will take up. Having great feilds of white detracts from your art, and unless you want a text-heavy comic that's not something you want to do.
If you do have a photo-manipulation program of some sort, try bringing up the black values in your art to be the same tone as those in your border, it will help clean up the art, and make it stand out more. Right now the absolute black you chose for the border washes out the colors in your peice, and makes your art fade into the background.
Good progress so far! Just remember to challenge yourself every day in your art. The only best way to gain skill is to attempt things you know you'll fail at, learn from the faliure, and move on.