diff --git a/dosage b/dosage
index 741a6b0f8..a2805b3a0 100755
--- a/dosage
+++ b/dosage
@@ -86,8 +86,9 @@ def displayHelp(comics, basepath):
 def getComics(options, comics):
     """Retrieve given comics."""
     errors = 0
-    events.installHandler(options.output, options.basepath, options.baseurl)
-    events.handler.start()
+    if options.output:
+        events.installHandler(options.output, options.basepath, options.baseurl)
+    events.getHandler().start()
     for scraperobj in getScrapers(comics, options.basepath):
         out.context = scraperobj.get_name()
         if options.all:
@@ -104,7 +105,7 @@ def getComics(options, comics):
                 out.write("Stop retrieval because image file already exists")
                 break
             first = False
-    events.handler.end()
+    events.getHandler().end()
     return errors
 
 
diff --git a/dosagelib/comic.py b/dosagelib/comic.py
index 0dbc62447..f1924e2d5 100644
--- a/dosagelib/comic.py
+++ b/dosagelib/comic.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import time
 
 from .output import out
 from .util import urlopen, saneDataSize, normaliseURL
-from .events import handler
+from .events import getHandler
 
 class FetchComicError(IOError):
     """Exception for comic fetching errors."""
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ class ComicImage(object):
                 speed = '???'
             attrs = dict(fn=fn, bytes=bytes, speed=speed)
             out.write('Saved "%(fn)s" (%(bytes)s bytes, %(speed)s/sec).' % attrs, 1)
-            handler.comicDownloaded(self.name, fn)
+            getHandler().comicDownloaded(self.name, fn)
         finally:
             self.urlobj.close()
 
diff --git a/dosagelib/events.py b/dosagelib/events.py
index d0acc3f8c..4077b02dd 100644
--- a/dosagelib/events.py
+++ b/dosagelib/events.py
@@ -41,9 +41,6 @@ class EventHandler(object):
         """Emit an end event. Should be overridden in subclass."""
         pass
 
-class TextEventHandler(EventHandler):
-    """Output nothing. XXX why?"""
-    pass
 
 class RSSEventHandler(EventHandler):
     """Output in RSS format."""
@@ -164,7 +161,6 @@ class HtmlEventHandler(EventHandler):
 
 
 handlers = {
-    'text': TextEventHandler,
     'html': HtmlEventHandler,
     'rss': RSSEventHandler,
 }
@@ -173,13 +169,14 @@ def getHandlers():
     """Get sorted handler names."""
     return sorted(handlers.keys())
 
-def installHandler(name=None, basepath=None, baseurl=None):
+_handler = EventHandler(".", None)
+
+def installHandler(name, basepath=None, baseurl=None):
     """Install a global handler with given name."""
-    global handler
-    if name is None:
-        name = 'text'
+    global _handler
     if basepath is None:
         basepath = '.'
-    handler = handlers[name](basepath, baseurl)
+    _handler = handlers[name](basepath, baseurl)
 
-installHandler()
+def getHandler():
+    return _handler