Possible Clues:

• Contemptible person in North America briefly making one gasp
• Insulting expression, initially, can make one cry
• Word often seen in parentheses in comic strips
• Anagram of 9 Across
• Type of sister
• More than a whimper
• Melodramatic response in comics
• Initially, the cry of the son of 27 across
• How one might weep to get 'er off the drink
• Woeful sound