Having recently read through all of the early Arthur books, I've managed to track down the first appearances of most of the characters.  Enjoy! 


 Arthur (Arthur's Nose, 1976), Buster (Arthur's Eyes, 1979), Francine (Arthur's Nose, 1976), Fern (Arthur's Eyes, 1979)


 Brain - definitely (Arthur Goes to Camp, 1982), Brain - maybe (Arthur's Nose, 1979), Binky (Arthur's April Fool, 1983), Sue Ellen (Arthur's Valentine, 1980)


 Muffy (Arthur and the True Francine, 1981), Bailey - maybe (Arthur and the True Francine, 1981), The Crosswires - Chip, Ed, Millicent (Arthur Goes to Camp, 1983), Pal (Arthur's Pet Business, 1990)


 Jenna - maybe (Arthur's Eyes, 1979), Prunella (Arthur's Teacher Trouble, 1986), Alex - maybe (Arthur's Valentine, 1980), Maria - maybe (Arthur's Eyes, 1979)


 Ms. MacGrady - probably (Arthur's Chicken Pox, 1994), Mr. Sipple (Arthur's TV Trouble, 1995), Carl Manino (Arthur Writes a Story, 1996), The Tree House (Arthur's Valentine, 1980)


 The Reads - Jane, David, D.W. (Arthur's Nose, 1976), The Reads - better detail (Arthur's Nose, 1976), Kate (Arthur's Baby, 1987), The Tibbles (Arthur Babysits, 1992)


 Mr. Ratburn (Arthur and the True Francine, 1981), Mr. Haney (Arthur's Eyes, 1979), Ms. Sweetwater (Arthur and the True Francine, 1981), Bitzi Baxter (Arthur's First Sleepover, 1992)


Things have really changed over the years.   

Truly, some of the early artwork was pretty scary.  Combine the more primitive animal-like designs and lower color saturation, and it feels like you're experiencing a child's nightmare.

To make things even more disturbing, the stories took a pretty a morbid turn at times.  One time Buster's canoe capsizes, and instead of helping him Francine just paddles by and asks him of he can do the dead man's float.  Another time Arthur and Francine scare away Binky by threatening to saw him in half and collect his blood in a bucket.  Binky falls several feet off the stage, and Ratburn just laughs at him.  The list goes on...       

Quote from: A Lotta Moms on January 22, 2014, 09:50:07 am

Sorry there, George.  Almost forgot about ya.

This is just something so dumb it might actually spread into another popular rumor, so I want to make it clear that it's a joke.

That is a real book, but it was published in 2008, which is 12 years after George debuted on Arthur.

Is that you Orion?