Tequila Sunrise
Adventurer
I've introduced quite a few people to 4e as their first rpg experience, and I always offer to give them a pregen or help them during their first chargen. But almost universally, they insist on making their own character; and so far we haven't had any major problems. The basic rules are simple, and the rest they learn as we play.
Marvelous Monsters comes in handy for just this. (See Upper & Lower Castes.)There needs to be a full page devoted to the DM altering monster stats so that a 1st level or 30th level monster can be used in a 4th level adventure. This would make Orcs relevant threats and Dragons not too strong to destroy the entire party in just a few rounds.