Tom Spurgeon has a very good interview with Tim Leong — Newsmaker: Tim Leong — getting a bit more background on Comic Foundry’s status, confirming my suspicions that Leong is a well-intentioned neophyte pitching a project that’s simply not ready for prime time. Here’s one of the more revealing comments:

SPURGEON: Even though you have a general audience in mind, you’re using the old DM system to get your magazine out there. What was your expectation for how you would find your audience? Because there seems to me a slight disconnect there. What were your expectations for building a subscription base and advertising?

LEONG: We’re virgin publishers here, and we might be making tons of mistakes, mistakes we might not even realize until months later. If we decide not to go with a publisher, and publish on our own, we would definitely go to conventions, and sell on-line. Subscriptions might be harder, because we don’t have a structural database set up to do print labels. It might be more low-tech at first, but I’m open to subscriptions. Advertising is tricky for a magazine that hasn’t come out yet. There are people interested in advertising, which is fantastic. We’ll have advertising in the first issue. Hopefully we’ll have more in the second. I’m considering bringing in different ad teams. I’m working some of the connections I have in my actual-actual job.

Call me cynical, but this does not sound like someone who’s ready to put out a monthly publication of any type, with or without color, never mind one targeting such a vaguely defined audience. Spurgeon does an excellent job asking some pointed questions, and Leong is refreshingly candid, though I’m not sure it’s such a smart tactic at this point, all things considered. If I were an investor or advertiser, I’d be feeling a little uncomfortable about CF’s prospects moving forward.

There’s a sample page included that looks like it might have come right out of TimeOUT NY or some other low-calorie general interest magazine, and I can’t help but think of the recently launched, broader-focused Geek Monthly. The one issue I’ve read, with Kristen Bell on the cover, showed some potential, but lacked a compelling hook beyond its vague “geek” identity. It read like a generic Men’s magazine with the usual departments, alongside features that lacked a bite, and I suspect it won’t last more than a year in its present state.

As for Comic Foundry’s rejection, I still haven’t heard back from Diamond for comment or clarification, but I’m guessing that, unless Leong lands an established direct market publisher, he won’t be making it into Previews any time soon. Especially not if they read that interview.