Arthrology is Groensteen's name for "the way panels...can be linked in series (continuous or discontinuous) through non-narrative correspondences, be it iconic or other means."
Arthrology both links individual sequences of panels together (restricted
arthrology) and creates larger networks that extend across multiple pages or an entire work (general
arthrology).
In The System of Comics, Groensteen uses the terms "
arthrology" and "braiding" to refer to such matters as the layout of the panels on the page (23) and the practice of forging links between them (146) respectively.
The "art of conjunction, of repetition, of linking together" of elements on the page and across pages (2007, 22), what he calls the "
arthrology" of comics, productively moves the reader out of the gutter, so to speak, and suggests a more complex interaction with the entirety of the form.