diff --git a/packages/html/charref.js b/packages/html/charref.js
index d99d79a526..e5ac524844 100644
--- a/packages/html/charref.js
+++ b/packages/html/charref.js
@@ -2341,7 +2341,7 @@ var isLegalCodepoint = function (cp) {
 // http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/tokenization.html#consume-a-character-reference
 //
 // Matches a character reference if possible, including the initial `&`.
-// Fails fatally in error cases, like a disallowed codepoint
+// Fails fatally in error cases (assuming an initial `&` is matched), like a disallowed codepoint
 // number or a bad named character reference.
 //
 // `inAttribute` is truthy if we are in an attribute value.
diff --git a/packages/html/exports.js b/packages/html/exports.js
index 6cb5d1db0d..eb14b13895 100644
--- a/packages/html/exports.js
+++ b/packages/html/exports.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ HTML = {
   _$: {
     // stuff exposed for testing
     Scanner: Scanner,
-    getCharacterReference: getCharacterReference
+    getCharacterReference: getCharacterReference,
+    getComment: getComment
   }
 };
diff --git a/packages/html/package.js b/packages/html/package.js
index d7d3f1ecf0..ee5c3785dd 100644
--- a/packages/html/package.js
+++ b/packages/html/package.js
@@ -6,12 +6,12 @@ Package.describe({
 Package.on_use(function (api) {
   api.export('HTML');
 
-  api.add_files(['scanner.js', 'charref.js', 'exports.js']);
+  api.add_files(['scanner.js', 'charref.js', 'tokenize.js', 'exports.js']);
 });
 
 Package.on_test(function (api) {
   api.use('tinytest');
   api.use('html');
   api.use('underscore');
-  api.add_files('charref_tests.js');
+  api.add_files(['charref_tests.js', 'tokenize_tests.js']);
 });
diff --git a/packages/html/tokenize.js b/packages/html/tokenize.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f3679ae183
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/html/tokenize.js
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+
+
+
+getComment = function (scanner) {
+  if (scanner.rest().slice(0, 4) !== '<!--')
+    return null;
+  scanner.pos += 4;
+
+  // Valid comments are easy to parse; they end at the first `--`!
+  // Our main job is throwing errors.
+
+  var rest = scanner.rest();
+  if (rest.charAt(0) === '>' || rest.slice(0, 2) === '->')
+    scanner.fatal("HTML comment can't start with > or ->");
+
+  var closePos = rest.indexOf('-->');
+  if (closePos < 0)
+    scanner.fatal("Unclosed HTML comment");
+
+  var commentContents = rest.slice(0, closePos);
+  if (commentContents.slice(-1) === '-')
+    scanner.fatal("HTML comment must end at first `--`");
+  if (commentContents.indexOf("--") >= 0)
+    scanner.fatal("HTML comment cannot contain `--` anywhere");
+  if (commentContents.indexOf('\u0000') >= 0)
+    scanner.fatal("HTML comment cannot contain NULL");
+
+  scanner.pos += closePos + 3;
+
+  return { t: 'Comment',
+           v: commentContents };
+};
diff --git a/packages/html/tokenize_tests.js b/packages/html/tokenize_tests.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..29553b6bc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/html/tokenize_tests.js
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+var Scanner = HTML._$.Scanner;
+var getComment = HTML._$.getComment;
+
+Tinytest.add("html - comments", function (test) {
+  var succeed = function (input, content) {
+    var scanner = new Scanner(input);
+    var result = getComment(scanner);
+    test.isTrue(result);
+    test.equal(scanner.pos, content.length + 7);
+    test.equal(result, {
+      t: 'Comment',
+      v: content
+    });
+  };
+
+  var ignore = function (input) {
+    var scanner = new Scanner(input);
+    var result = getComment(scanner);;
+    test.isFalse(result);
+    test.equal(scanner.pos, 0);
+  };
+
+  var fatal = function (input, messageContains) {
+    var scanner = new Scanner(input);
+    var error;
+    try {
+      getComment(scanner);
+    } catch (e) {
+      error = e;
+    }
+    test.isTrue(error);
+    if (error)
+      test.isTrue(messageContains && error.message.indexOf(messageContains) >= 0, error.message);
+  };
+
+  ignore("<!DOCTYPE>");
+  ignore("<!-a");
+  ignore("<--");
+  ignore("<!");
+  ignore("abc");
+  ignore("<a");
+
+  fatal('<!--', 'Unclosed');
+  fatal('<!---', 'Unclosed');
+  fatal('<!----', 'Unclosed');
+  fatal('<!-- -', 'Unclosed');
+  fatal('<!-- --', 'Unclosed');
+  fatal('<!-- -- abcd', 'Unclosed');
+  fatal('<!-- ->', 'Unclosed');
+  fatal('<!-- a--b -->', 'cannot contain');
+  fatal('<!--x--->', 'must end at first');
+
+  fatal('<!-- a\u0000b -->', 'cannot contain');
+  fatal('<!--\u0000 x-->', 'cannot contain');
+
+  succeed('<!---->', '');
+  succeed('<!---x-->', '-x');
+  succeed('<!--x-->', 'x');
+  succeed('<!-- hello - - world -->', ' hello - - world ');
+});