As a child, Pyle was always fascinated with comic books. He bought his first one, “Amazing Spiderman,” at age 7 while growing up in Michigan. Pyle was browsing through a bookstore looking for a one-of-a-kind present to celebrate his birthday. His eye caught the “Amazing Spiderman” comic immediately, and he snatched it off the shelf.

Pyle tried his hand at drawing comic book covers as he got older. “I was always drawing something, mostly this kind of stuff,” he said, pointing to various superheroes on comic book covers. “The people who had comic books were seen as the nerds. They were not the jocks. As I got older, especially in high school, I put stuff away.”

To Pyle’s surprise, his 12-year-old daughter, Lauren, became interested in art at school. When she needed to draw something with the Disney character Mickey Mouse, Lauren came to her father for help. Pyle purchased an art table for his daughter, but found himself using it to reignite his passion for drawing comic book covers.

Pyle does not draw ordinary covers. He tends to stick to comics dating back almost 50 years. His first black and white drawing was of “All-American Men of War,” which was published in 1959. The cover shows a soldier huddled low to the ground with sweat pouring down his flushed cheeks. With his clenched teeth and a look of agony spread over his face, the soldier reaches for his gun.

“If I see something I like, I get almost drug-induced,” Pyle said. “I just have to do it. I will look for something that just catches my eye.”

Since 2006, Pyle has drawn around a dozen comic book covers. A “Detective Comics” cover shows Bat-Woman racing ahead of Batman and sidekick Robin to a mission. Another cover, “G.I. Combat,” highlights soldiers, some badly wounded, firing a tank gun at an exploding airplane. A “Spiderman” cover features the superhero trying to escape from a net thrown on him by Kraven the Hunter.

Pyle has always been drawn to the classic superheroes who date back to a time when comic books only cost 10 cents. “I liked them because they had superhuman strength, but they didn’t have to be bulked up,” he said. “Even Spiderman didn’t look big back in the day.”

Earlier this year, Pyle had his work on display at The Clayton Center. He then turned his attention to another cover of “Lois Lane,” circa 1961, for an art contest. The drawing shows Justice League members (Green Arrow, Aquaman, Batman and Superman) lining up to kiss Lois Lane, the primary love interest of Superman. Another woman with her arms crossed looks annoyed that Lane is getting so much attention from the superheroes.

“I thought this was kind of neat because it is a Lois Lane book, which probably nobody would have admitted to having expect for the fact that [the Justice League] is on the cover,” Pyle said. “I don’t think there are going to be very many people who remember this cover.”

Most of Pyle’s projects take several weeks to complete. After he finds the perfect cover, Pyle measures the length in centimeters — the characters, words and logo. He doubles the measurements on his drawing paper. Pyle starts the covers with pencil, but eventually fills in the space with color. Sometimes, he leaves everything black and white.

Drawing may have escaped Pyle once, but it will likely not happen again. “I am glad I found it again before I got too old and couldn’t see anymore to draw,” he said.