diff --git a/dist/showdown.js b/dist/showdown.js
index 8f9cdba..0abb867 100644
Binary files a/dist/showdown.js and b/dist/showdown.js differ
diff --git a/dist/showdown.js.map b/dist/showdown.js.map
index 7196acc..8de4142 100644
Binary files a/dist/showdown.js.map and b/dist/showdown.js.map differ
diff --git a/dist/showdown.min.js b/dist/showdown.min.js
index 1b74f56..1574546 100644
Binary files a/dist/showdown.min.js and b/dist/showdown.min.js differ
diff --git a/dist/showdown.min.js.map b/dist/showdown.min.js.map
index 5df08ac..adf5ea4 100644
Binary files a/dist/showdown.min.js.map and b/dist/showdown.min.js.map differ
diff --git a/src/subParsers/hashHTMLBlocks.js b/src/subParsers/hashHTMLBlocks.js
index 9020e56..b136bc9 100644
--- a/src/subParsers/hashHTMLBlocks.js
+++ b/src/subParsers/hashHTMLBlocks.js
@@ -52,12 +52,13 @@ showdown.subParser('hashHTMLBlocks', function (text, options, globals) {
   }
 
   // HR SPECIAL CASE
-  text = text.replace(/(\n[ ]{0,3}(<(hr)\b([^<>])*?\/?>)[ \t]*(?=\n{2,}))/g,
+  text = text.replace(/(\n {0,3}(<(hr)\b([^<>])*?\/?>)[ \t]*(?=\n{2,}))/g,
     showdown.subParser('hashElement')(text, options, globals));
 
-  // Special case for standalone HTML comments:
-  text = text.replace(/(<!--[\s\S]*?-->)/g,
-    showdown.subParser('hashElement')(text, options, globals));
+  // Special case for standalone HTML comments
+  text = showdown.helper.replaceRecursiveRegExp(text, function (txt) {
+    return '\n\n~K' + (globals.gHtmlBlocks.push(txt) - 1) + 'K\n\n';
+  }, '^(?: |\\t){0,3}<!--', '-->', 'gm');
 
   // PHP and ASP-style processor instructions (<?...?> and <%...%>)
   text = text.replace(/(?:\n\n)([ ]{0,3}(?:<([?%])[^\r]*?\2>)[ \t]*(?=\n{2,}))/g,
diff --git a/test/cases/html-comments.html b/test/cases/html-comments.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..865f2e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cases/html-comments.html
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+<!-- a comment -->
+
+<!-- a comment with *bogus* __markdown__ inside -->
+
+<p>words <!-- a comment --> words</p>
+
+<!-- comment -->
+
+<p>words</p>
+
+   <!-- comment -->
+
+<pre><code>&lt;!-- comment --&gt;
+</code></pre>
diff --git a/test/cases/html-comments.md b/test/cases/html-comments.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..08c7e1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cases/html-comments.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+<!-- a comment -->
+
+<!-- a comment with *bogus* __markdown__ inside -->
+
+words <!-- a comment --> words
+
+<!-- comment --> words
+
+   <!-- comment -->
+
+    <!-- comment -->
diff --git a/test/cases/html-inside-listed-code.html b/test/cases/html-inside-listed-code.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a1e09b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cases/html-inside-listed-code.html
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+<ul>
+    <li><p>list item 1</p>
+
+<pre><code class="html language-html">&lt;a href="www.google.com"&gt;google&lt;/a&gt;
+&lt;div&gt;
+&lt;div&gt;some div&lt;/div&gt;
+&lt;/div&gt;
+</code></pre></li>
+</ul>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/cases/html-inside-listed-code.md b/test/cases/html-inside-listed-code.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5034d5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cases/html-inside-listed-code.md
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+  - list item 1
+
+    ```html
+    <a href="www.google.com">google</a>
+    <div>
+      <div>some div</div>
+    </div>
+    ```
diff --git a/test/cases/line-starts-with-html.html b/test/cases/line-starts-with-html.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8af6b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cases/line-starts-with-html.html
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<p><a href="foo">some text</a> words</p>
+
+<p><br> words</p>
diff --git a/test/cases/line-starts-with-html.md b/test/cases/line-starts-with-html.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20e6cba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cases/line-starts-with-html.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<a href="foo">some text</a> words
+
+<br> words
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/issues/#288.code-blocks-containing-xml-comments-are-not-converted-correctly-when-nested-in-list-items.html b/test/issues/#288.code-blocks-containing-xml-comments-are-not-converted-correctly-when-nested-in-list-items.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5855544
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issues/#288.code-blocks-containing-xml-comments-are-not-converted-correctly-when-nested-in-list-items.html
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+<ul>
+   <li><p>list item 1</p>
+
+<pre><code>&lt;parent&gt;
+&lt;child&gt;child1&lt;/child&gt;
+&lt;!-- This is a comment --&gt;
+&lt;child&gt;child2&lt;/child&gt;
+&lt;child&gt;some text &lt;!-- a comment --&gt;&lt;/child&gt;
+&lt;/parent&gt;
+</code></pre></li>
+
+   <li><p>list item 2</p></li>
+</ul>
+
+<pre><code>&lt;parent&gt;
+&lt;child&gt;child1&lt;/child&gt;
+&lt;!-- This is a comment --&gt;
+&lt;child&gt;child2&lt;/child&gt;
+&lt;child&gt;some text &lt;!-- a comment --&gt;&lt;/child&gt;
+&lt;/parent&gt;
+</code></pre>
diff --git a/test/issues/#288.code-blocks-containing-xml-comments-are-not-converted-correctly-when-nested-in-list-items.md b/test/issues/#288.code-blocks-containing-xml-comments-are-not-converted-correctly-when-nested-in-list-items.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f918a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issues/#288.code-blocks-containing-xml-comments-are-not-converted-correctly-when-nested-in-list-items.md
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+* list item 1
+
+    ```
+    <parent>
+    <child>child1</child>
+    <!-- This is a comment -->
+    <child>child2</child>
+    <child>some text <!-- a comment --></child>
+    </parent>
+    ```
+
+* list item 2
+
+```
+<parent>
+<child>child1</child>
+<!-- This is a comment -->
+<child>child2</child>
+<child>some text <!-- a comment --></child>
+</parent>
+```