Expressionism in Comics

In our discussions of past comics, we have addressed the different ways that illustrators use emanata.  During our discussions of Tintin, we agreed that Hergé occasionally uses punctuation marks in such a way that they become something like emanata.  His stylized question marks and exclamation points connote a particularly evocative kind of surprise or distress.  If I remember correctly, these Crime SuspenStories are the first comics we've read that use text to the same effect.  Though others have featured bold text, these often feature more emotionally evocative words and phrases.  "Poison" features a particularly interesting example, panel 6 on page 85.  As Mr. Boles succumbs to the titular poison, he begins to speak and act erratically.  His severe mental and physical distress is reflected in both the size and positioning of his words, "STOP IT!"  In later comics, the shape of the speech bubbles achieves a similar effect.  Panels 5 and 6 on page 142 feature especially warped bubbles.  These, too, inform the reader of the character's escalating madness.  As Fred becomes more and more frantic, even the text-boxes begin to change in shape.  At the peak of his murderous breakdown (Panels 1-3, 143), Graham Ingels' text begins to drip from the top of the frame like blood.  Throughout the collection, the art is wildly expressionistic.  My favorite panel is probably panel 1 on page 17.  This is an especially evocative depiction of a mental collapse.  I doubt that Alfred Hitchcock would have read EC Comics, but the image is prescient of the disorienting nightmare sequence in his film Vertigo.  Even the faces of characters are twisted and warped.  "Mr Biddy . . . Killer," in particular, features wonderfully grotesque caricatures.   Archie and Mr. Biddy wear their depravity and moral turpitude on their twisted faces.  Almost every character in each of the horror comics is drawn with similarly unusual features.