diff --git a/src/plot_api/plot_api.js b/src/plot_api/plot_api.js
index a6a4a62f9f1..c8619163454 100644
--- a/src/plot_api/plot_api.js
+++ b/src/plot_api/plot_api.js
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ Plotly.plot = function(gd, data, layout, config) {
     // any part of the plotting code can push to gd._promises, then
     // before we move to the next step, we check that they're all
     // complete, and empty out the promise list again.
-    gd._promises = [];
+    if(!Array.isArray(gd._promises)) gd._promises = [];
 
     var graphWasEmpty = ((gd.data || []).length === 0 && Array.isArray(data));
 
@@ -384,14 +384,16 @@ Plotly.plot = function(gd, data, layout, config) {
         drawData,
         finalDraw,
         initInteractions,
-        Plots.rehover
+        Plots.rehover,
+        Plots.previousPromises
     ];
 
-    Lib.syncOrAsync(seq, gd);
-
     // even if everything we did was synchronous, return a promise
     // so that the caller doesn't care which route we took
-    return Promise.all(gd._promises).then(function() {
+    var plotDone = Lib.syncOrAsync(seq, gd);
+    if(!plotDone || !plotDone.then) plotDone = Promise.resolve();
+
+    return plotDone.then(function() {
         gd.emit('plotly_afterplot');
         return gd;
     });
diff --git a/test/image/baselines/mathjax.png b/test/image/baselines/mathjax.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..95f086468c5
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/baselines/mathjax.png differ
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/mathjax.json b/test/image/mocks/mathjax.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..743b2100570
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/image/mocks/mathjax.json
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+{
+    "data":[{
+        "x": [0, 1],
+        "y": [0, 1.414],
+        "text": ["Hx+yH", "H\\sqrt{2}H"],
+        "mode": "text+markers",
+        "name": "HE^2=m^2c^4+p^2c^2H"
+    }, {
+        "x": [0, 1],
+        "y": [1.4, 0.1],
+        "text": ["H1.400 \\pm 0.023H", "H0.100 \\pm 0.002H"],
+        "textposition": "auto",
+        "type": "bar",
+        "name": "Hx=\\frac{-b \\pm \\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}H"
+    }, {
+        "type": "pie",
+        "values": [1, 9],
+        "labels": ["H\\frac{1}{10}=10\\%H", "H\\frac{9}{10}=90\\%H"],
+        "textinfo": "label",
+        "domain": {"x": [0.3, 0.75], "y": [0.55, 1]}
+    }, {
+        "type": "heatmap",
+        "z": [[1,2],[3,4]],
+        "xaxis": "x2",
+        "yaxis": "y2",
+        "colorbar": {"title": "He^{i\\pi}=-1H", "y": 0.225, "len": 0.45}
+    }],
+    "layout": {
+        "yaxis":{"domain": [0, 0.45], "title": "$y=\\sin{2 \\theta}$"},
+        "xaxis":{
+            "domain": [0, 0.45],
+            "title": "$x=\\int_0^a a^2+1$",
+            "tickvals": [0, 1],
+            "ticktext": ["$\\frac{0}{100}$", "$\\frac{100}{100}$"]
+        },
+        "xaxis2": {"domain": [0.85, 1], "anchor": "y2"},
+        "yaxis2": {
+            "domain": [0, 0.45],
+            "anchor": "x2",
+            "tickvals": [0, 1],
+            "ticktext": ["Ha+b+c+dH", "He+f+g+hH"],
+            "title": "$(||01\\rangle+|10\\rangle)/\\sqrt2$"
+        },
+        "height":500,
+        "width":800,
+        "title": "$i\\hbar\\frac{d\\Psi}{dt}=-[V-\\frac{-\\hbar^2}{2m}\\nabla^2]\\Psi$",
+        "annotations":[
+            {
+                "text": "H is substituted for $<br>where we would like<br>math but do not yet<br>fully support it",
+                "xref": "paper", "yref": "paper",
+                "x": 1.2, "xanchor": "left", "y": 0, "yanchor": "bottom",
+                "showarrow": false
+            },
+            {
+                "text":"$(top,left)$","showarrow":false,"xref":"paper","yref":"paper",
+                "xanchor":"left","yanchor":"top","x":0,"y":1,"textangle":10,
+                "bordercolor":"#0c0","borderpad":3,"bgcolor":"#dfd"
+            },
+            {
+                "text":"$(right,bottom)$","xref":"paper","yref":"paper",
+                "xanchor":"right","yanchor":"bottom","x":0.2,"y":0.7,"ax":-20,"ay":-20,
+                "textangle":-30,"bordercolor":"#0c0","borderpad":3,"bgcolor":"#dfd",
+                "opacity":0.5
+            },
+            {"text":"$not-visible$", "visible": false},
+            {
+                "text":"$^{29}Si$","x":0.7,"y":0.7,"showarrow":false,
+                "xanchor":"right","yanchor":"top"
+            },
+            {
+                "text":"$^{17}O$","x":0.7,"y":0.7,"ax":15,"ay":-15,
+                "xanchor":"left","yanchor":"bottom"
+            }
+        ]
+    }
+}