This Joker is from Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, the 1993 feature that took the look and feel of the Animated Series onto the big screen and gave it a darker, more cinematic register. A remarkable full portrait capture, the clown prince leans in close with that grin running ear to ear. It is exactly the Joker that a generation grew up fearing and adoring in equal measure.

Impressively, there are four autographs on the cel, all from the heart of the production: Dan Riba and Kevin Altieri, two of the directors whose work defined the visual language of the Animated Series era, alongside writers Robert N. Skir and Stan Berkowitz. Getting that many key creative voices onto a single piece of production art is rare, the signatures are placed clear of the figure so the image reads cleanly. For the collector who knows what those names meant to this run of DC animation, this is the kind of provenance that does not come together by accident.

The cel itself is an original production piece on acetate, 12-field with bottom peg holes, set against a studio printed photographic background of the Gotham skyline beyond a window frame. The colour are vibrant, and the Warner Bros. official studio seal is present, with the production codes still legible along the top edge.

Mask of the Phantasm sits at a particular moment in this world. It is the film where Bruce Wayne's past comes back to find him, where Andrea Beaumont walks into Gotham and recognises the man behind the cowl, and where the Joker is woven into a story that is as much tragedy as it is crime thriller. The Joker carries the menace that holds the whole thing together.

A Joker portrait this large and this clean, carrying the signatures of the people who actually made this corner of Batman history, is one to hold onto.