Dial Tone (G.I. Joe)

Dial Tone is code name of two fictional characters from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series.

The first is male and debuted in 1986. He is the G.I. Joe Team's communications expert. He is voiced by Hank Garrett in the Sunbow G.I. Joe cartoon series.

The second is female, and makes her first appearance in the new IDW comic series. A version also appears in the G.I. Joe: Resolute animated series.

Profile
Dial Tone is the G.I. Joe Team's electronics and communications genius. His real name is Jack S. Morelli, and his rank is that of corporal E-4. Dial Tone was born in Eugene, Oregon.

Dial Tone built his own crystal radio set when he was ten. By fourteen he was part of a CB net, and had his own ham station by the time he was sixteen. Dial Tone made all his own equipment, buying parts with quarters which he earned by bagging groceries. He joined the army to further his education in his chosen field, and became the Joe team's communications expert. Despite this, he has been seen many times fighting on the battlefield.

Toys
Dial-Tone was first released as an action figure in 1986.

The figure was repainted and released as part of the Special Missions: Brazil box set in 1986, Sonic Fighters line in 1990, a 2-pack with General Hawk in 2000, an 8-pack in 2002, and sold with the A.W.E. Striker and the Tiger Force 5-pack in 2003.

A new sculpt version of Dial-Tone was released in 1994 as part of the Battle Corps line.

Comics
In the Marvel Comics G.I. Joe series, he first appeared in issue #56. He is part of a G.I. Joe assault team in the fictional country of Sierra Gordo. The Joes take over a Cobra 'Terror Drome'. Despite Serpentor and Tomax and Xamot trying to kill them, they take it apart and steal all the pieces.

He takes part in a mission to a South American jungle to hunt a Nazi war criminal. Dial-Tone is part of a different team that successfully plants spy equipment at the Cobra Consulate building in New York City.

Later, he is part of a team attempting to stop hostage takers in Frankfurt, Germany. At the end of the comic series it is revealed that Dial-Tone invented numerous state of the art innovative devices that he patented and made him wealthy.

Sunbow
In the Sunbow G.I. Joe TV series, Dial-Tone was portrayed as being somewhat nerdy compared to the other tech-savvy Joes as well as having bad taste in clothing when it came to his out-of-date civilian wardrobe. He was often seen in the company of both Wet-Suit and Leatherneck and even fixed them both up with dates although Leatherneck found his friend's taste in women somewhat lacking as well. He was outgoing and eager to please to the point of being obsequious. When he was on the military base, he spent most of his spare time with Mainframe creating and playing video games. When assigned to combat or missions he was under the command of Flint's platoon. His status as a Joe was likewise questionable and in an issue of Marvel Age he was said to be a "probationary member" and that he was hanging on "by the skin of his teeth". In "Sins of the Fathers", he was actually turned down for re-enlistment and hired by a disguised Zarana for a project utilizing his expertise in communications involving "very specific parameters". However, it was revealed at the end that he was only turned down to give him a foolproof cover knowing that Cobra would try and recruit him.

Dial-Tone appeared in the following episodes:
 * Arise, Serpentor, Arise
 * Cobrathon
 * G.I. Joe: The Movie
 * Glamour Girls
 * Grey Hairs & Growing Pains
 * Iceberg Goes South
 * In The Presence of My Enemy
 * Into Your Tent...
 * Joes' Night Out
 * Last Hour To Doomsday
 * Let's Play Soldier
 * Million Dollar Medic
 * Most Dangerous Thing In The World
 * My Brother's Keeper
 * My Favorite Things
 * Nightmare Assault
 * Once Upon A Joe
 * The Rotten Egg
 * Sins Of Our Father
 * The Spy That Rooked Me

G.I. Joe: The Movie
Dial-Tone also appeared briefly in the 1987 animated film G.I. Joe: The Movie.

Fictional character biography
A blond female character named Dial Tone first appeared in the new IDW comic series. To date, no background information has been revealed about this character. No mention has been made of the Jack S. Morelli character in this series.

Comics - IDW Publishing
The new Dial Tone works with Scarlett in the think tank at the Pit.

Resolute
In G.I. Joe: Resolute, there is a female agent working on the USS Flag is approached by Gung Ho and asked for information about the recent Cobra attack. She is later identified by the code name, Dial Tone.

Writer Warren Ellis has said the character was originally just a background character, but she was made a Joe due to the amount of dialogue he gave her; "they gave me several [codenames] to choose from, and I chose Dial Tone, because it amused me".

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
In the 2009 video game G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, a female Dial Tone appears as a non-playable supporting character. Her data file states that her real name is "Jill J. Morelli," and that she took over her brother's post on the team after he disappeared on a mission. This version of Dial Tone is voiced by Aimee Miles.

Toys
A toy of the female version of Dialtone was released in a Desert Troop Builder 5-Pack exclusive to Toys R Us stores in 2009.

Other works
Dial Tone is briefly mentioned in the fiction novel 6 Sick Hipsters. In the story, the character Paul Achting spent four years collecting G.I. Joe figures to set up a battle scene between the Joes and Cobra. Although Dial Tone's figure is not depicted, as Paul imagined the characters in his head he described Sgt. Slaughter "speaking on a transistor radio to Dial Tone, the communications specialist, back at G.I. Joe headquarters".