Philippa Rice's Soppy: 24 Comics About Everyday Love

There is nothing more comfortable than falling asleep on your loved one’s lap

Soppy is a comic about love that skips the candlelit dinners and grand proposals. Its creator, the British artist Philippa Rice, drew it from her own life with her partner, the illustrator Luke Pearson, and filled it with the moments most couples barely notice: making breakfast, reading in bed, arguing gently about dinner, wrestling with flat-pack furniture. The drawings use a restrained palette of black, white and soft red, and almost no words, which lets readers fill in their own memories.

Rice began the series online as a way to remember small, silly moments from the start of the relationship. The comics spread quickly on Tumblr, gathering hundreds of thousands of notes, and Andrews McMeel published them in North America as Soppy: A Love Story in December 2014, with Square Peg releasing it in the UK. The book became a New York Times bestseller. Below are 24 of the drawings, grouped by theme, with a note on what each one captures. If you enjoy this style, the Korean illustrator Puuung works in a similar spirit.

Who is Philippa Rice?

Philippa Rice grew up in London and later settled in Nottingham. Before Soppy she was best known for My Cardboard Life, a webcomic built from cut cardboard, paper and other scraps, with new strips several times a week from 2008 to 2013. She also works in animation, model-making, crochet and lino printing, and one of her comics appeared in Google's 2018 Doodle for International Women's Day.

Soppy grew into a small series. A guided journal, Our Soppy Love Story, invites couples to record their own small moments, and in January 2020 Rice published Baby: A Soppy Story, which follows the same couple through pregnancy and early parenthood. Asked why she started, she told Upworthy that she simply wanted to keep fond memories of the beginning of the relationship. Many readers wrote back to say the comics looked like their own homes.

Mornings and sharing a home

1. A slow morning in the kitchen

Sometimes, love can be found in the simplest things, like spending a blissful morning in the kitchen

The series opens where many shared days begin: at the kitchen counter. There is nothing dramatic about toast and a kettle, which is exactly the point. Rice treats the first quiet minutes of the day as one of the clearest signs that two lives have merged.

2. Together, but doing different things

You can be in the same room without having to do everything together

Two people share a room while each is busy with something of their own. It is one of the most recognisable scenes in the book. Being comfortable in the same space without constant interaction is something many long-term couples describe as a mark of trust.

3. Tangled up in sleep

It is hugging each other accidentally while sleeping

The couple end up wrapped around each other during the night without either of them planning it. Rice draws the scene with the same simple lines she uses everywhere else, so it reads as funny and tender at once. It is the kind of detail only someone who lives it would think to record.

4. Chores are better with company

Even the most mundane tasks are more fun when you do them together

Housework is rarely anyone's favourite subject, but here it becomes a shared activity rather than a burden. The drawing hints at something practical: dividing everyday tasks fairly is one of the most common sources of friction for couples who live together, and doing them side by side can soften it.

Errands, hugs and decisions about dinner

5. The weekly food shop

The grocery trip appears in the publisher's own description of the book as a typical Soppy moment. Pushing a trolley and debating cereal is not romance in the film sense. Rice shows it as a small adventure because it is done together.

6. Everything stops for a hug

True love means putting everything aside just to hug

Whatever was happening is abandoned for an embrace. The drawing captures how affection often interrupts the day rather than being scheduled into it. It is one of the more openly sentimental pages, which suits the book's self-mocking title.

7. The eternal dinner question

The biggest dilemma is often what to eat for dinner

"What shall we eat?" may be the most repeated question in any shared home. Rice turns the indecision into gentle comedy. Small disagreements like this are part of the book's honesty: the couple are fond of each other, not perfect.

8. A hand to hold on a low day

Even if you’re feeling a bit blue, there’s always someone that will hold your hand

When one partner feels down, the other simply stays close. No speech is needed and none is drawn. The page reflects a quiet form of support that many people value more than advice when they are struggling.

Evenings, books and flat-pack furniture

9. It really is the little things

This drawing works almost as the book's thesis. Rather than one big gesture, love is built from many small acts that are easy to overlook. Rice's minimal style keeps attention on those acts instead of on setting or dialogue.

10. Reading in bed after a long day

Happiness is when both of you read in bed after an exceptionally tiring day

Two people, two books, one bed: a scene of rest after a tiring day. Reading separately while lying together is a recurring image in the series. It shows closeness that does not demand energy from either person.

11. Building furniture as a team

Building IKEA furniture is like playing with LEGO when it’s just the two of you

Assembling flat-pack furniture is famous for testing patience. Here it becomes something closer to play, like building with toy bricks. The joke lands because almost every couple has a story about an instruction sheet and a missing screw.

12. Asking the hard questions

Sometimes, you have to ask hard questions

The "hard question" in this panel is played for laughs, a reminder that the book's seriousness is always light. Couples who can joke about small things often find it easier to talk about big ones too. Rice leaves the exact question for readers to enjoy for themselves.

13. Cooking side by side

Cooking together often becomes the most challenging and the most fun task

Cooking together can be both the most fun and the most chaotic part of the evening. Two people in a small kitchen need coordination, patience and a sense of humour. The drawing captures that mix without taking sides on who is the better cook.

Comfort, apologies and closeness

14. Small problems still matter

Even the tiniest problems matter to your loved one

A tiny worry gets full attention from the other person. Taking a partner's minor concerns seriously is a simple way of showing respect. Rice draws it without exaggeration, which makes it feel true.

15. Long talks in bed

It’s having those long talks in bed about everything and anything

Late-night conversations about everything and nothing are a classic feature of new relationships, and many couples keep them going for years. Rice treats these talks as a sign of ease: there is no topic too small to share.

16. Knowing each other's favourite way to cuddle

It’s when you know your favorite cuddling positions

Over time, couples develop their own habits, down to how they sit or lie together. Rice records these private routines with affection rather than embarrassment. The joke is in how specific and practised they become.

17. A favourite cafe

It’s having a favorite cafe, where only you two matter

Having "our place" is a small ritual that gives a relationship a shared map of the city. The cafe in the drawing is ordinary, but it belongs to them. Many readers will think of their own regular table.

18. Warm inside on a cold autumn day

The cold autumn wind can’t touch you because your heart always stays warm

A chilly autumn wind is no match for being together. The seasonal setting gives the drawing a cosy mood. It suggests that comfort comes from company more than from weather.

19. Saying sorry

Love means knowing when you need to say sorry

Apologising is part of the story too. Rice does not pretend the couple never fall out; she shows that making up matters as much as getting along. Knowing when to say sorry, and meaning it, is a skill most relationships rely on.

20. Asleep on a loved one's lap

This is the drawing chosen as the cover image of this page. Falling asleep on someone is about as relaxed as a person can be, and letting them stay there is a small act of care. The image says a great deal without a single word.

Going out, compromise and the road ahead

21. Exploring close to home

It is about exploring new things, even if it’s just your neighborhood park

Adventure does not have to mean travel. A walk around the local park counts as exploring when you do it together and pay attention. The page encourages a kind of curiosity that costs nothing.

22. Not always easy, and that is fine

It’s knowing that it’s not always rainbows and butterflies, it’s compromise that moves us along

Here the book is most direct: relationships are not all rainbows, and compromise keeps them moving. It is a useful counterweight to the sweeter pages. Rice suggests that give-and-take is not a failure of romance but part of it.

23. Heading in the same direction

As long as both of you are headed the same way…

The final two drawings work as a pair. The first is about moving in the same direction, a simple metaphor for shared goals. It sets up the closing reassurance on the last page.

24. Everything will be fine

The sequence ends on optimism rather than a punchline. After so many small scenes, the message is that a life made of them adds up to something steady. It is a gentle note to finish on, fitting for a book that never raises its voice.

Why these everyday comics resonate

Part of Soppy's appeal is recognition. Most love stories in films and novels focus on the beginning, the obstacles and the big declaration. Rice's comic is about the long middle, where most of a relationship is actually lived. By drawing chores, errands and evenings in, she gives those hours a dignity they rarely get.

The book also avoids telling readers what love should look like. The scenes are specific to one couple, and some readers will find their own routines very different. That is fine: the comics invite you to notice your own small rituals rather than copy someone else's.

If you want to see more of her work, Rice's book is available on Amazon and her portfolio, including My Cardboard Life and her animations, is online at philippajrice.com. Amazon links on this page are affiliate links, which means a purchase may earn the site a small commission.

Sources: All illustrations by Philippa Rice, from Soppy; Simon & Schuster, Soppy book page and author biography; Upworthy, 24 relationship comics that illustrate the beauty in the mundane moments; first shared via Bored Panda and Idealist4ever.

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