I swear there was a guide thread pinned here before Oh found it..
Intuos ($99-$500s) if you have money, or Huion ($70s) is as good as intuos but cheaper. Though, Intuos might be easier when it comes to spare parts.
I've been using Genius for five years, it's pretty decent and cheap. The spare parts is expensive though, better buy a brand new one instead.
As for art program, I don't use many programs.
Photoshop is the industry standard. Easy to find Tutorials and custom brushes/pattern. but it can be ram eater and really pricey (CS6 is $700, while CS6Ex is $1000). Photoshop CS1 and 2 are available for free on their website though. Even if you use something else, it's not hurt to have at least the free versions. I use PS for finishing and effects, since my computer isn't strong enough to handle more than 10 layers on Photoshop.
Clip Studio Paint is the Japanese Photoshop except optimized for manga/comic than photo editing. It's an evolved version of Manga Studio. It has everything MS has and with more features and materials (like template or brushes). The only downside is, most tutorials aren't available in English language and involve combing around pixiv (although, if you know which tags to use, they're really easy to find). It has two versions Pro ($50) and Ex ($220). Pro works fine even on advanced level. Haven't used this all that much.
Paint Tool Sai, the thing that most weaboo use. *cough* joke aside, Compared to the program above Sai has very limited feature and simple as it's mainly for painting (It has most basic features for painting). It's good if you have not-so-strong-PC, like simple UI and smooth brush. If you buy sai, you can update to its 2nd version (still BETA), it has more features like text, shape tools, perspective grid). I mainly use Sai for because it's lightweightness (my -_-ty computer can handle 250 layers in 300dpi A4 in sai, while barely able to handle 10 in Photoshop), simple UI and cheaper (around $45). Another downside is it can't open non-RGB files.
Another note: Both Sai and CPS has stabilizer so you don't have to worry about shaky hands.