Erik (The Phantom of the Opera) other adaptations such as films, television shows, books, and musicals. One such popular literary adaptation is the Susan Kay novel "Phantom" (1990), a fictional in-depth story of Erik from the time of his birth to the end of his life at the Paris Opera House. For the most part, Kay's novel stays in context with Erik's life history as laid down by Leroux, however Kay (as explained in her Author's Note) changes and shapes the character to match her own vision, influenced by other adaptations besides the original. In addition, the ending/resolution is quite different from Leroux's. The story follows
The Phantom the character as wealthy playboy Jimmy Wells by day and the crime-fighting Phantom by night. During his first story, "The Singh Brotherhood", before disclosing that Wells was the Phantom Falk changed the setting to a jungle and made the Phantom an apparently immortal, mythic figure. Thinking that there were already too many characters called "the Phantom" (including The Phantom Detective and The Phantom of the Opera), Falk considered calling his hero "The Gray Ghost" (later the name of a "Batman" character, mentioned in the first episode of "Phantom 2040"). However, he could not find a name he liked better and