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IMHO, cartoon characters SHOULD be protected under trademark,
rather than copyright. SOME cartoon characters, when used to
represent a commercial entity, like caricatures representing
sports teams ARE treated as trademarks.

IIUC, they can be both. The character may be a part of a logo or represent a
particular business as a trademark, but in the Sunday funnies, that strip
would be protected under copyright. OTOH, a character that happens to
appears in a strip would not necessarily be used as a trademark.

Clint Eastwood's work in copyrighted, but he is not a trademark. Alfred
Hitchcock's work is copyrighted, but his profile is trademarked.