Panel Flow

Understanding panel flow is a particular art form that you need to become very familiar with if you design comics.   This is the relation between your reader and their viewing path throughout your story.  Viewers follow particular cues that help form the path in which they read your comic.  The better you become at identifying and designing that path, the more enjoyable your comics will become.

With this in mind lets understand how a reader follows cues or clues.  We are all animals of habits.  People tend to look at each other and wonder what each of us is seeing so its normal for people to follow eyes.  That means your reader looks at the direction of where your characters are staring at.  Its a natural flow to follow the direction everyone is looking at so keep that in mind when positioning your characters.

Next is the action flow.  In real life people tend to go towards the same direction as where the crowds go. call it an instinct.   People want to know where someone or something is headed to.  This also becomes a natural focal point.  Aim towards pushing the action towards the next panel or word balloon.

Lastly, people have to read your comic book story so they will be looking for those captions and dialogue balloons.

Use a combination of these to lead your reader as gradual as possible through your comic book pages.  It will enhance your reader's comic experience while enjoying your story.