Comics as Place - Ivan Brunetti

Robert Crumb, “A Short History of America,” panel 1, 1979
"Most comics focus on the actions of a figure, and the narrative develops by following that figure as it moves through its environment, or as it is commonly referred to by cartoonists, who have the often tedious, time-consuming task of actually drawing it, the background. One widely used cartoonist’s trick is to draw/establish the setting clearly and then assiduously avoid having to redraw it in subsequent panels, or at least diminish the number of background details as the sequence progresses. After all, once this setting/background has seeped into the reader’s brain, the reader can and will fill in the gaps. ..."
The Paris Review

Chris Ware, Untitled, (excerpted – 1/2 page), from Quimby the Mouse, 2003