Anime is better than modern cartoons, but comics are vastly superior to manga. Generally speaking. I despair for modern day cartoons and how underwhelming they are (although truthfully anime these days is little better) but I've always found manga extremely tedious.
Between anime and classic cartoons...god, don't make me choose. I grew up with Marvel and DC cartoons, and as much as I love Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Digimon, Cardcaptors and all the rest, they're both equal parts of my childhood. I gravitated more towards anime from the mid 2000s onwards, when cartoons started losing their appeal.