diff --git a/tools/pandoc-template-mode.el b/tools/pandoc-template-mode.el
index 7a6346458..c34a8dbfd 100644
--- a/tools/pandoc-template-mode.el
+++ b/tools/pandoc-template-mode.el
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@
  ;;; Code:
 
 (defvar pandoc-template-font-lock-keywords
-   '(("\\(\\$\\)\\(if\\|for\\)(\\([^)]+\\))\\(\\$\\)"
+  '(("\\(\\$--.*\\)$"
+      (1 font-lock-comment-face))
+    ("\\(\\$\\)\\(if\\|for\\)(\\([^)]+\\))\\(\\$\\)"
       (1 font-lock-preprocessor-face)
       (2 font-lock-keyword-face)
       (3 font-lock-variable-name-face)