I'm up to page zero of the revised version so you're in the lead. 
The pics are smooth partly because it was in digital and also because the work files were 3x the resolution, where I would zoom in 300% for the final inking, so there's probably detail that doesn't even show up in the image. I can still see it, but maybe it's in my head. I normally work at 2x the final rez, but the lines were ending up too thick and this doesn't take that much more effort.
Some of it is from doing my sketch work in Painter 8. I actually do two layers, the first is just the body then I layer clothes over it. So I don't have to worry about erasing body portions when I screw up getting a shirt right. Also allowed me to use the same base body for Narumi in work clothes and in power armor. Would have taken a lot longer to do the second one otherwise. The lines of my sketch come out a lot smoother on a tablet as well, so it's easy to apply a darker ink layer and focus on getting all the little details in.
Almost forgot the best part! Have you ever drawn something and realized that some part of the body was a little too large, a little too small, at the wrong angle, etc? On paper, you have to redraw, but on a computer you can just isolate that part, manipulate it whatever way you want, and slap the corrected version back in like it was there in the first place. I was also able to draw the characters to scale by putting a semi-transparent version of the previous image in the background when I was starting the sketch.
If you're willing to put some practice into it, I fully recommend doing all your work on a tablet. I don't think it's right for everyone, but I think it would suit your style. It took me a while to get used to. At first my drawings seemed a lot worse, but after a while everything just seemed to click and my characters looked more full and less stiff. Painter almost makes it hard on you at first because you don't see any sort of icon when you draw, just the paint so you can't tell what size it is or exactly where's going, but then it becomes perfectly initiutive.
Painter 8 is the best painting program I've ever used, though I haven't used a recent version of illustrator. I'm really underusing Painter actually, it's more for simulating natural media like real paint (which looks almost too real. I love playing with the ink brushes just to watch the ink run and blend together. It really looks wet). Painter is the only program that had all the tools I needed in one package though. It even has a perspective grid and liquid metal and all kinds of crazy stuff.
Whew! That was a long explination for a simple question, but Painter was the best $130 I ever spent so I tend to be a bit enthusastic about it.
Gradivus R will be an online comic that I'm doing mainly for drawing practice, though it's interesting to tell a story in that medium. The rules are completely different than just writing text.
"I've watched while the maggots have defiled the earth. They have
built their castles and had their wars. I cannot stand by idly any longer." - Otogi 2
a remote controlled dandy
. I'm only up to page ONE with my comic. And the pics are so clean and smooth... Can Painter 8 do this kind of stuff?! I'm using Illustrator 10 right now but I still sketch my stuff on paper and then do the inking with said program. I don't have painter 8 so I really can't draw a comparison between the two.
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