[Inkscape-user] Cell Display?

I'm trying to compose a small comic, and I'd like to create the panels and layout in Inkscape. Is there any way to take an arbitrary closed path (not necessarily a square) and use a raster image to fill it?

The closest thing I could find was to import all the raster images, convert them to patterns, fill the shapes using those patterns, then rescale the shapes while toggling on/off the "Transform shape along with object" button until the patterns fit correctly. This whole process is extremely awkward and time consuming, and it would really be convenient to just fill a shape using an image, without first having to import/pattern/transform an image. Is there an easier way?

Thanks, Chris