There's a rather old project that may do what you want: https://github.com/zoran123456/Comic-Smart-Panels
I also use AlternativeTo to look for ...alternatives! Unfortunately, the other alternatives (besides Comic Smart Panels) are all proprietary, varying degree of "free": https://alternativeto.net/software/comic-life/
Technically you could do it with Krita, might be a pain in the butt tho.
Or maybe Libreoffice Draw
it could be possible, but like you said it won't be easy, i wonder if there is something else or if i should invest in something? im not sure.
If it's free and open source and it's also software, it can be discussed here. Subcommunity of Technology.
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