diff --git a/sequencer.c b/sequencer.c
index b68bca0bef..d605199a54 100644
--- a/sequencer.c
+++ b/sequencer.c
@@ -2141,6 +2141,8 @@ static int parse_insn_buffer(struct repository *r, char *buf,
 	char *p = buf, *next_p;
 	int i, res = 0, fixup_okay = file_exists(rebase_path_done());
 
+	todo_list->current = todo_list->nr = 0;
+
 	for (i = 1; *p; i++, p = next_p) {
 		char *eol = strchrnul(p, '\n');
 
@@ -2154,7 +2156,10 @@ static int parse_insn_buffer(struct repository *r, char *buf,
 		if (parse_insn_line(r, item, p, eol)) {
 			res = error(_("invalid line %d: %.*s"),
 				i, (int)(eol - p), p);
-			item->command = TODO_NOOP;
+			item->command = TODO_COMMENT + 1;
+			item->arg = p;
+			item->arg_len = (int)(eol - p);
+			item->commit = NULL;
 		}
 
 		if (fixup_okay)